The Girls of Gotham Academy
by Pachowable
Summary: Artemis wasn't too keen about joining the gymnastics team. Barbara and Bette want to make sure that she doesn't regret the decision. Hopefully Artemis is ready to be friends with some "Bird Lovers".
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm going through Babs deprivation guys. I _need_ more of her. I think her and Artemis would be like BFFs and this is what happens. This is probably going to be a collection of one-shots like my other story. It will be updated with inspiration. So please review and stuff because it makes me feel fuzzy inside. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, if I did there would be _way_ too many awkward orphan and dead parent jokes.**

Gymnastic Camp**  
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_"Sweetie, I think you should join a club or team at school."_

_ "Mom, I'm already apart of a _team_, remember?"_

_ "I know, sweetie, but maybe this will help. I haven't seen you hang out with any of your new friends."_

_ "That's because I'm usually with the Team."_

_ "You used to always be with your friends from Gotham North. I want you to at least _try_ to find a couple friends. A club would be the perfect thing."_

_ "Mom…"_

_ "Please. At least try out for a sports team or something, sweetie. All you do is work on your arrows or hang out with your team. I don't want you to be so…_dependent_ on them. You can lose things really fast. Trust me. I know from experience."_

That's why Artemis was at Gotham Academy's gymnastic training camp. The school, unlike regular schools, had a complete camp and a couple of weeks dedicated to getting people into shape for sports. Some teams had a couple _months_ of training camps to get them to the top shape. No wonder they had so many trophies in their trophy cases.

Artemis felt awkward in the huge gym. Her mom was right. She hadn't really bothered to try and make friends. Sure, in her classes she would sometimes talk to the kids around her, but she made no move to actually be _friendly._ That left her to do the tryout camp alone. Most of the girls were already in their own groups and they exercised together. That left Artemis to do everything alone.

They were jogging around the gym—it had recently been redone do to some _altercation_. Most girls were jogging with their friends and were laughing and joking about inside jokes and crap. Artemis was silent, trying not to feel left out. God, she hated being a girl sometimes. Even though she had been doing this camp for about a week now, she still had not gotten used to doing everything alone. Maybe her mom was right. She was getting too dependent of being on a team. She wasn't used to being alone anymore.

Ugh, she hated it when her mom was right.

"Okay, girls! Please go change into your unitards, spandex, or whatever—as long as you can move!" the gymnastic team's couch yelled. She was some spunky, small, blonde woman who also taught Artemis' English class.

The girls all giggled as they were walked into the locker room. Everyone changed quickly because they were excited at what came next; they would actually get a chance to do something gymnastic-y. Artemis was sorta thrilled. If she really wanted to do anything like this, she could have just gone to the cave and had Robin help her. He was ridiculously good at acrobatics and he's been helping her with hers. She was good, but nowhere as good as him. Or even as good as him with a broken leg.

She was very lithe, but she definitely needed some improvement. Robin sought her out to take her "under his wing"—God, the boy and his puns—and train her in acrobats. She didn't want to admit it, but he was helping her a lot. She had always known that you had to be faster than your opponent, and she was. Now, Robin was showing her the benefits of being even _faster_. He was always a few steps ahead of everybody because he was just so goddamned fast.

Artemis _really_ wishes she were training with Robin than these girls.

In the locker room she changed from her drawstring sweatpants into some spandex short shorts—they were short enough to be underwear, but she tried to overlook that detail—and she had already been wearing tank top with a sports bra underneath. She had her hair pulled into a bun because last week she had found out the _disadvantages_ it was to have her hair in the puffball of a ponytail while doing gymnastics. Thank God, it had been Rob with her and not these girls. She had been on the uneven bars and her hair had managed to get caught between her hand and the bar. She had let go after feeling a good chunk of hair being ripped from her skull. Never had she been more thankful for the trampoline that was underneath the bars. She would have been stuck with a broken leg otherwise—even with the trampoline she had managed to sprain her knee with the fall.

"Fifty pull-ups each!" the coach instructed. Many of the girls groaned, but Artemis didn't mind. Being an archer meant her upper arm strength was great. She could do a hundred pull-ups without breaking a sweat. Her and Roy had once had a competition to see who could do the most pull-ups—he had won by default; during the middle of her hundred and twenty-seventh pull up he had started tickling her. Who would have figured that the girl with the midriff would be ticklish on her stomach?

She did the pull-ups easily.

Artemis was glad that they finally got to do some of the actual gymnastic stuff now. "I want you guys to split up into four different groups; one for the uneven bars, the balance beam, the open floor, and vault." The girls quickly divided up. Artemis ended up on the floor. For the first five minutes they had time to just stretch and practice some moves. She started with a simple back bend to test out her back. Her back was sore from a mission the Team had done a couple of days ago. Wally had ended up running her. Let's just say that going from zero to the speed of sound didn't do wonders for her body or back.

"Artemis, right?"

Artemis did a flip to get out of her back bend—it was easier than just trying to stand up and more graceful than falling on her butt. The girl was a red head that she had seen with Bette Kane. Bette was basically her only real friend at the Academy. She was so sweet it was almost seemed impossible. If it weren't for the girl's weird quirks and raunchy humor she would have turned Artemis off.

One of her weird quirks was that she was in love with Robin.

No joke. The girl was, like, seriously _in love_ with the Boy Wonder. It was even a bit obsessive. Artemis thought it was adorable, though. She knew basically every thing about the Boy Wonder. Where he was last night, where his favorite spot is to watch for crime during patrol, where he usually avoids downtown. She had even almost followed him all the way to the batcave once, but she ended up running out of gas before she made it. On her computer—and phone—were hundreds of pictures of him. Most of them she had taken herself. The girl was a stalker.

Artemis absolutely loved it.

It was really weird at first, but she got used to it and even went out _"Bird Watching"_ with Bette once. The look on Robin's face when he saw her watching him was priceless. She gave him a cute little smirk and a wave before Bette took another picture.

The girl in front of her right now wasn't Bette, though. It was her friends—Barbara? Yeah, Barbara. The girl was a red head—a red head in the sense of more like Roy than Wally the Ginger. Barbara was in gymnastics garb—shorts and a tank like Artemis. She was one of the best gymnasts on the team. She usually hung out with her group of friends during the camp. They must be gone—Artemis figured. That was the only reason she would come over here and talk to the loner.

"Yeah, you're Barbara, right?" God…she hoped she got her name right…

The girl smiled at her. "Yeah," something flashed in her eyes before she let out a snorted out laugh. "God. You're the girl that Dick took a picture of!"

It took Artemis a second to remember. "Oh, you mean that stalker kid?" _Maybe him and Bette would make good friends…_

"Yeah, he's my friend. Sorry for him being _weird_. He's a real _special _kid," the girl laughed.

"No kidding. Taking pictures of strangers and running off saying _'We'll laugh about this someday.'_"

"He's probably thinking of some ridiculous joke to pull on you. Good luck," the girl said and started doing some stretches.

Artemis joined her in the stretches. Her back wasn't as bad as she thought it was. Suddenly, it was as if her mind sparked, she got an idea. "What if she we get him first?"

"I think I love you," the girl smirked while doing a handstand. "We need to do it. Me, you, and Bette will probably get pulled into this. It will be epic. Dick will not stand a chance against us."

The girls continued talking about many pranks and ideas. The girls were just _a bit_ devious. There were just so many good ideas. Public humiliation, parental humiliation, explosions, fire, grasshoppers, plain old humiliation, the fake goldfish, frozen boxers, the list of ideas went on and on. Artemis was learning to really like this girl. She had a devious quirk to her.

Maybe joining the gymnastics team won't be _too_ bad.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: You guys are so sweet. I love all the reviews and love. To answer the questions: Babs is NOT Batgirl, yet. Nor is Bette Flamebird yet. They are both going to become their alter egos eventually, but right now they are just chicks. They also don't know that Robin is Dick. I don't really know that much about Bette, so I'm taking some liberty in writing her. Also, if you guys have ideas for chapters you want to see please tell me.**

**And whoever can guess the building the building at the end gets a complimentary birdy.  
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"Bird Watching"

Artemis can't believe Bette actually talked her into doing this.

_Hey, Artemis, for my art project I need to get some pictures of birds. Would you like to go _bird watching_ with me?_

She should have understood that those words held another meaning besides the obvious implications. It wasn't until she had gotten to Bette's house that she realized the mistake. The girl was in all black—not sketchy at all, _Kane—_and was loading some pictures off of her camera on to her computer. They were pictures of Robin. _Robin_ as in that kid she hangs around with after school most of the time. That kid who had killed her pet gold fish. His name had been Jared. It was just a silly little pet. Her and M'gann had bought it at _Meijer_ just for the heck of it and it ended up being a permanent member of the family. He stayed on the kitchen counter back at the mountain.

Robin wanted to see if he could survive in _Dr. Pepper._

For being raised by Batman, the lord of the no-kill policy, he was sure awkwardly violent. She had mentioned to him after the _incident_ that most murderers start with killing and torturing animals—he responded with how he might have not started with animals. That kid sometimes.

_Anyways._ She stared at the pictures of Bird Boy on the computer screen. They were actually pretty decent pictures.

But still. They were pictures of a thirteen year-old _boy._ It was creepy. Kinda. Being Artemis, she had seen some pretty weird stuff in the world. She didn't want to get into that now. Just, use your imagination and Artemis can guarantee she has seen worse. Much worse.

"You said we were going Bird Watching…" Artemis mumbled. Bette turned around and smirked. "Well, duh, we are going _Bird Watching_. Just not the type of bird you were thinking of," the girl smirked and turned back to her computer. "I'll be done in a second," she muttered moving the last pictures off of her camera onto the computer. "Done."

Artemis raised an eyebrow, "Do you do this with all bird themed heroes or is Robin just special?"

Bette placed a finger to her chin and tapped it. "Never thought about that before. If I ever go to Star City I could try for Black Canary…Nah, I will stick with Robin. He's such a babe, right?" the girl asked. She started pulling her extremely curly hair into a bun.

Artemis didn't want to answer. _Sure._ She had _noticed _that Robin was an attractive person. He was an attractive _teammate._ He was just a teammate. It would be awkward to have a relationship on the team. She didn't like to think of Robin romantically. That didn't mean she didn't appreciate his muscles, or abs, or hair—oh God, his hair. One time, her and M'gann had spent an hour trying to figure out whose hair was softer: Robin's or Conner's. Wally was out by default because he was a ginger. Kaldur didn't have that much hair to judge by. After having their hands in Robin and Conner's hair for thirty minutes, the girls decided that it was a tie. That was until they felt Roy's hair. _God_—that boy's hair was so _silky _and _soft_.

"Um, I guess he's okay."

"Okay?" Bette snorted. "I would marry that boy in a heartbeat. Not to mention other things."

"TMI, Bette. Please, keep your personal wishes to yourself." Artemis nearly laughed when Bette threw a black jacket at her. She didn't even question Bette and put the jacket on. "Incognito?" she asked. The girl nodded. Artemis laughed, "You're gonna to try and stay hidden from Batman?"

Bette rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Arty. You can go if you don't have faith in me," the girl shrugged and started putting on her shoes.

There was no way in _hell_ she would give up a chance for this. Sure, it was probably extremely weird. She was going to end up blowing her cover for her secret identity—even though Robin probably already knew what hospital she was born in. This was a chance to bond with someone over something _fun_ and _weird_. It was better than going to the mall like most girls did. Artemis has had enough of the mall because of M'gann. She's been to the Happy Harbor mall so many times that she could draw a very detailed map of the mall. _Very detailed._ She'd color it with markers and crayons to make it pretty.

Artemis pulled on her boots and followed Bette out the door; that is until Bette stopped her. Bette narrowed her eyes at Artemis. "Hair in a bun."

Artemis snorted. She only put her hair in a bun for gymnastics. That's the only time her hair gets to leave the usual fluff ball of a ponytail. "Over my dead body."

"It's gonna look like a lion is following you. A blind person could spot you from a mile away."

"Deal with it."

Bette looked like she wanted to argue, but the girl just rolled her eyes. She called out to her mom that she would be home eventually. Her mom didn't seem to care too much and just told her to stay safe and take the taser.

The two girls started out in Gotham Park. It was just a nice park in the city—it still wasn't any bit less sketchy than the rest of the city, though. There were still drug deals going on behind every tree. It was just easier to ignore in the park. Artemis always felt more at ease when she was around nature. Maybe it was her namesake trying to poke through; Artemis, Greek Goddess of the Hunt, Archery, the Moon, Women, and Chastity.

Artemis wasn't exactly sure about the last one, but she sure as Hell was a woman that liked to hunt with a bow and arrow preferably in the dark of the night under the moon. It was weird that her name strangely fit her. It's kind of like how Roy fits him. Roy means _red_. Artemis got a kick out of that when she found that out—she totally did not _Google_ the meaning of Roy's name when she found it out.

With her namesake sticking in her mind, Artemis liked being in the woods—well—park. Bette even threw Artemis for another twist. They were going to take pictures of _actual birds_. Birds as in the ones that went around tweeting and shit. The ones that like sitting out Cinderella's window and sing to her to wake her up—or was that Rapunzel that they sung to her? Snow White? What other classic princesses were there? Sometimes, Artemis really wishes she had a childhood; sometimes, Artemis is glad she didn't have a childhood.

Artemis pulled out her camera and started taking pictures of the little birds in the trees. Artemis, per say, has never really been a bird person, but seeing these little creatures playing in the contaminated bird baths of Gotham Park awoke the little girl in her heart. She wanted a pet finch now—or a canary? Would Batman allow pets in the cave? She loved how free the birds were. If they didn't like something, they could just fly away. If any animal were truly free, it would be birds. They were so free…light…joyful…

Frick. She just had an epiphany.

_Now _she understands why Batman named him Robin!

She made sure to take a picture a bunch of pictures of a robin that had landed near the pond to take a drink.

It was nearing dusk when Bette pulled on her sleeve and the girl gave her a look. She nodded towards a rooftop that was to an apartment complex. Artemis glanced up, and sure enough there were two dark figures on the building. Dang, did that girl have good eyesight. Even if Artemis had been staring at the building, she wouldn't have seen the two figures. And she was supposed to have a good eye being an archer and all.

Well, this was slightly awkward.

Bette started snapping some pictures of the duo. The pictures were actually turning out decent. Considering it was so dark, Artemis expected the pictures to be a muddled mess. Apparently, Bette doesn't go by logic when she's stalking.

Logic is not relevant when stalking.

Artemis should have seen that one coming. Bette motioned again to the rooftop and the two figures that had previously occupied the roof were gone. Bette made another motion, a sort of shrugging of the shoulder, but more directed. It was obvious because she had seen that gesture so many times before.

_Follow me._

With that, the stalker blonde was off. She quickly ran through the park towards the place where the stalker's interest had been.

O…kay.

That was new. She wasn't exactly used to her friends trying to chase down Batman and Robin, but if this was a norm for Gotham Academy, she was going to like this school a whole lot more than what she thought. She quickly got her act together and started off after Bette.

The girl was a lot faster than what Artemis was expecting. She wasn't only fast— she was also _agile_. It wasn't anything new, though. She was used to chasing Robin in a sort of tag/hide-and-seek game. It had started one day when Artemis was just leaving her apartment to go to cave to do some unofficial training. It was kinda hard to practice archery in her itsy bitsy, teeny weenie apartment. Not really enough elbow or breathing room—if you get what she means. So she had just been leaving her apartment in her uniform when Robin—out of nowhere—jumps on her back, causing her to fall into a huge puddle full of acid rain and other cancer causing shit, while he just flipped back like the cocky, little bird he was. She was going to get revenge against the kid, so she started chasing after him. The first time, it was just a simple chase to the Zeta transport. The next time, they took a bit of a deviation. The time after that, they took a new route. They kept on chasing it up until they were running all throughout Gotham in a chase of cat and mouse. Or acrobat and archer. They did change it up every once and a while and had Robin chasing Artemis—he always caught her faster than she could catch him. She would make up excuses—_"You do this every night with Batman!", "I thought I heard a baby crying, motherly instincts kicking in!", "It's not my fault that room we went in was full of thugs; it doesn't count that you caught me." , "I thought I had dropped an arrow, my _special_ arrow!", "I thought I saw Batman!". _Which brought in the hide and seek part of their game of tag. Batman wouldn't be too _happy_ that Robin was spending some of his time patrolling by playing tag with Artemis. Robin knew that he couldn't hide this from Batman for a long time, but he could try.

Artemis didn't have a hard time keeping up with Bette, but she was more surprised than anything. The girl was actually pretty fast and good at running through the streets of Gotham—did this girl have a double life, too? If she didn't, could of fooled Artemis. This girl moved like she did. Artemis followed right behind her. "They should split up right about now. Robin always goes to a building before going on the rest of his patrol," she informed Artemis.

Artemis nodded. The finally made it to the building that Bette said was the building he always on. Sure enough, the Boy Wonder was perched on the building. Artemis nearly laughed at what building he was on. She knew that her lion of a ponytail probably gave away her position. She smirked, knowing that he probably could see her. Bette had already started snapping pictures of him.

Artemis gave the Boy Wonder a little wave and took a picture for herself.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So this one sets the ground for the friendship of Babs/Dick/Artemis/Bette. I want this to be like a _thing_ in Young Justice. Either that or have more BatFam. I took some liberties in writing Sportsmaster. I understand that he's a douche now, but what about before? When it was just him and Artemis? I want them to have some love between each other before everything went rocky. Thank you so much for all the Reviews, Alerts, and general love for this story. I love you guys. So review and you can win my bird, Sunny.  
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The Project

Artemis couldn't help, but be excited as Bette's car pulled into the Wayne Manor's super long driveway. She had never really been in a really rich person's house before—_well_; she's never been _invited. _She had to admit, she was being a bit shallow, but the place was so pretty. It was going to be so different from her usual old apartment that was literally falling apart—Artemis has become pretty handy with dry wall and plaster.

Bette was almost laughing at Artemis. The girl in the passenger seat was _giddy_. Artemis was never giddy. Not even when Artemis had found that hundred-dollar bill in the parking lot of Gotham Academy—_"Looks like I can pay for my mom's medication this month."_ It was weird. "What if I break something?" Artemis asked.

Bette looked over at the shaking blonde. This time she couldn't contain a laugh. Artemis was so _giddy_ and _shaken_. "Mr. Wayne's really nice. He won't care…too much. Just don't break anything that looks valuable," she teased.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "It's not like I'm _planning_ on breaking anything—it's just when I'm around breakable and valuable items, they tend to break," Artemis explained. She remembers one of the first times that her Dad had taken her out on the job. It was just a common heist from a museum. It wasn't even like what they were stealing was that valuable—it was just to see how good Artemis was. Everything was going completely fine. She stole the good, knocked out the security system, and took out the guards—of course not in that order—and everything was going off without a hitch. Her Dad had looked so…_proud._ He was so proud of his little girl. She was just a chip off he old block. On the way back to the Shadows new hide out in this city, Sportsmaster had even stopped to get ice cream for his little girl. She had done so well. She had, of course, protested; —_"Dad, I'm ten. I don't need congrats ice cream."—_He just rolled his eyes at his daughter and stopped at an ice cream place anyway. He got her favorite ice cream—strawberry with chocolate chips.

He had forgotten his wallet in the car and asked her to go get it. When the girl came back, her eyes were wet with tears. He raised an eyebrow at his daughter. Artemis held out her hand and showed the broken glass; the broken glass from the vase that they had just stolen. It was now shattered on the pavement in the parking lot. He frowned at his daughter. The vase was going to bring in quite a lot of money for his family—_no, _it was just them now. He had to get over the fact that Jade had left. She was just a ghost now. She wasn't his daughter anymore. His only daughter was right in front of him. Crying because she thought that he would be upset over her breaking something.

He picked the little blonde girl up—he still couldn't get over how much she looked like her Dad instead of her Mom. She was _his_ daughter. "You got the wallet, right?"

Artemis' thoughts were clouded as they pulled into the driveway. Dick and Barbara were already sitting on the porch laughing. "You ready to be the training wheels?" Bette joked and parked in front of the two of them.

Artemis and Bette got out of their car and met the two who were _totally not flirting with each other_. Bette smirked and winked at Artemis. She had a plan.

Artemis gave her a suspicious look and Bette shook her head. _Not now._ God, it was weird that after such a short time that the two girls could communicate so well. It was almost intrusive.

Dick got up and smiled at the two new arrivals. "My girls come here," he opened his arms, waiting for the girls to shower him with adoration. All of the girls just snorted and laughed at him.

"Wasn't that cute?"

"Adorable."

"His girls?"

Artemis laughed. "Well, _my boy_. Aren't you going to lead _your girls_ in?" she asked with a smirk.

He finally dropped his arms. "No cuddles? Fine, come in to my humble abode," he bowed and opened the grand door for _his girls_. Artemis had to give him a second look. The way he led them in…his attitude…his voice…it was all so familiar.

She knew this kid from somewhere.

Even though her thoughts were trying to convince her to stand there and stare at the boy, she followed Barbara and Bette through the door.

And Artemis had thought this house was grand from the outside. The place was so pretty. Yes, _pretty_. Pretty was the word that kept on coming to mind when she stared at this place. It was hard to believe that a female didn't live here.

Yes, before they came here, Bette had given Artemis _the talk._ No, not the talk about sex and shit; the talk about how you probably shouldn't start testing out your dead parent and orphan jokes in Wayne Manor. Although, that's just a recommendation—it's your head you're risking if you want to make a dead parent joke and see if Mr. Wayne will laugh. He will probably laugh, when you get kick out in the rain and run over by a train for the inappropriate joke you just made.

So Bette explained the Mr. Wayne had lost his parents to some unfortunate circumstances, and according to the media, it was still a sore subject. Dick Grayson had also lost his parents too—_"Are they like an orphan club?"_—so it made Wayne Manor a no-dead-parent-joke-zone.

"Master Richard, are all these young girls here for you? Are you trying to beat Master Bruce's record?" a man that was the stereotypical example of a butler asked. His face was completely pokered out, but there was a joking glint to his eyes. The old, stoic butler started taking all of their coats and took it to the coatroom. They had a coatroom! Man was this place fancy pantsy.

"I would have to bring home five more girls to break his record," Dick joked back. Artemis was slightly curious if this was true. Was Mr. Wayne that big of a womanizer that he's brought eight girls home before at the same time? She debated on asking him in the futures, but decided it would have been too awkward to ask about his Dad's love life.

"I'm afraid Master Bruce is going to be late again tonight. Are the young ladies going to be staying for dinner?"

Dick looked over at _his girls_ and raised an eyebrow. "I can," Barbara quickly put in. "Dad's working late today too." She had gotten a ride with Dick right after school. Some time in between they had gotten changed too. They were both out of their uniforms. That was the main reason her and Bette had not gone home with Dick right after school was so she could change. She could only take the skirt for so long.

Artemis had no idea how M'gann could always go around in a skirt. Especially when she was _flying._ It gave pretty much everyone a full view of up her skirt. Artemis had to mention this to the Martian, and thank goodness she took the hint. Now in missions, she usually prefers to wear her stealth outfit.

Bette and Artemis exchanged looks. "You're my ride home," Artemis said. She wasn't going to force Bette to stay if she couldn't.

"I'm your ride _everywhere_," Bette snorted and then smiled at Dick. "Of course we can stay. But we seriously need to start on this project and actually do good on it."

"_Well_."

"I thought you were supposed to be class president."

"Doesn't mean I'm _smart._"

They all laughed and Dick led them to the study, so they could start on their French project. They were in second year French. Artemis was already fluent in French—not to mention Vietnamese—but this class was the only thing that was keeping her GPA up. There's no way she would risk going into a higher class and getting worse grades than she already is.

The project was pretty simple. They had to do a report on a French city Toulon. It was a huge surfing city and was a perfect temperature all year round. Artemis didn't like the heat. Her mom wasn't the only reason she hadn't moved the hot city that was Star City so she could be closer to Green Arrow.

The study was basically a library. It was bigger than the library at Gotham North. Artemis was still amazed. The only library she could think of that was bigger was the one she had seen at…

…The League of Shadows…

Oh, _God._ Artemis finally realized where she recognized the boy.

She must have been twelve or thirteen—when she still had a decent relationship with her father, when she still worked for the Shadows. It was a group mission. It was the first time she had done a group mission, and there was no denying that she didn't exactly trust the rest of her team. She had a natural—almost instinctual—distrust with people.

The Shadows were at a party hosted by Mr. Wayne. Their target was a man who had some information pertaining to a new…_stuff_? She didn't exactly know. She had been so young that they didn't tell her. It didn't matter. She was there to lure him out with the rest of the group. She wasn't doing anything more than being an adorable little lure.

While doing her _luring_, she had to act like she actually liked the party, or gala, so she ended up dancing. With people. People such as _Dick Grayson._ Of course, she doesn't think that anyone found out about the little kidnapping mission or that she was apart of it, but _still_. She had been incognito and everything—red dyed hair and blue contacts, and she went by the name Molly Johansson—but _still._ What if the kid actually recognized her? Her life in Gotham would be blown.

She tried to not be awkward as she stared at Dick Grayson, trying to get a hint of anything from him. If he knew anything, he wasn't letting it on. Artemis stopped being a recluse and actually started helping the other three with the project. It was a simple project. They had to create a script of them at a restaurant, memorize it, and the act it out in front of the teacher. The whole project should have taken an hour.

This being considered, it took them _way _longer than an hour. They were teenagers and what teenagers do best is talk and goof off. They did the natural thing and started hitting on each other in French. Bette and Artemis had started this sort of flirt war with each other and, eventually, everyone else in their French class. It had all started with Artemis asking Bette, _Where are my pants?_

And Bette, not to miss an opportunity at anything, _My house from last night. _

And then the war was started. Any chance they got, they would make the sentences into something awkward. _How much do you cost?_

_I am priceless._

_That's not how much you cost last night. _

_What do you like to do?_

_Boys. And you._

They did everything they could in their teenager minds to turn stuff dirty. It was also funny because of Gotham Academy's language programs even being open to people from the Middle School, so they weren't exactly ready for some of the raunchy humor that was being shouted across the classroom. It was great.

"Master Richard, dinner is ready for you and your guests," his butler—Alfred, she had learned—came in and informed them.

They quickly abandoned what little work they had gotten done and gathered around the table. Alfred served them some type of soup with a sandwich. Artemis nearly died when she tried it. This easily beat the shit out of her cooking—well, her ramen noodles and crackers.

After dinner, they finished their project and just talked for a while. It was finally time for them to go home. Alfred was going to drive Barbara home and Dick was going to ride with them, but first, they were going to say goodbye to Artemis and Bette. The girls had gotten their coats from the coatroom—_"A coatroom? Frick. This is cool._"

They said their goodbyes. "Come here, my girls." Once again, Dick opened his arms to receive the love of _his girls. _Bette and Artemis rolled their eyes, but obliged. They hugged the kid goodbye and tried to get out of his grasp, but he managed to kiss both of them on the cheeks before they got out.

"Bye Crockpot and Kanechain."

When the two of them had gotten into the safety of Bette's car, Bette broke out laughing. Artemis raised an eyebrow. She pulled out an empty, wet, plastic bag.

"I filled his bathtub with goldfish."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Rayner Fox, this is what happened when I read your review. This is sort of a sequel to the last chapter. I'm glad you guys were okay with the whole Sportsmaster thingy. I was scared that you guys would be like WTF, NO CHICKA. Your reviews are great. Thank you so much! So review and you get a complimentary _love._**

Pets

_"Master Richard, I know you are not too happy about Master Bruce letting you keep pets, but sneaking goldfish into the house and letting them stay in your bathtub is not acceptable by any means."_

_ "What do you mean?"_

_ "Is this a new _teenage-rebelling-angst _stage that Master Bruce has been stressing about?"_

_ "Alfred, I didn't put any…Artemis…"_

Bette didn't know what she started when she had left he goldfish in the bathtub. Of course Dick had confronted both her and Artemis about it—of course he didn't suspect his little _girlfriend._ No, she was too innocent and perfect to be a suspect. If only he knew…

Dick had returned the goldfish—what's the plural of fish? —in a water bottle, with a grin that said _this means war._

And so the Pet War started.

It was a simple process; leave any type of animal at the victim's house. The day after Bette had left the goldfish at Dick's house, she came home to find a present on her table. Her mom said that a friend had dropped it off for her. Bette wasn't one to be suspicious or paranoid, so she opened the box.

Boy, was _that_ a bad idea.

The moment she opened it about five _hundred_ crickets came jumping out. Bette, being the girl she was, screamed for her life. Some of them had managed to jump on her face. _Her face!_ Give Bette spiders or snakes or atomic bombs, but _bugs?_ God, no. She'd rather have to make nooses made of _living _snakes for a living.

Bette, in the heat of the moment, grabbed a frying pan from off her counters and started viciously hitting everything in sight. She had to get rid of those _creatures._ Her kitchen ended up getting trashed from her attempts to destroy the crickets.

_Why crickets?_

This was no doubt an attack from Dick. She didn't have a doubt in her mind. It was retaliation to her prank. It was just a simple prank? Why did he have to go so far?

If he had already gotten her, what about…Artemis? Bette ran to her home phone—after making sure to step on all the crickets she could with each step. She quickly dialed Artemis' number.

Artemis didn't answer.

That was because she was dealing with her own problem.

When she had gotten home from school she did her usual routine. She checked all the rooms in her house to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. Living on this side of Gotham—Hell, _any _side of Gotham—you had to be careful and being paranoid was actually a good thing. Nothing seemed to out of the ordinary. Her mom was patching up her uniform—costume, what should she call it? —in the living room. Her mom had smiled up at her, "I saw you on the news, taking down those snow machines. It was very impressive of you. I'm proud of you, sweetheart."

Artemis doesn't want to admit it, but she still wasn't used to coming home and seeing her mom. Her mom had been gone for _six years_. Even before that her mother wasn't a big part of her life. Don't get her wrong; Artemis loves her mother. Always has. It's just…new? She's never had that big of a female presence in her life. Sure, Jade had been with her, before she had left, and then there was even Talia al Ghul. The lady who balanced on the line of good and evil so carefully; a line that was made of her love for Batman and her father. The lady that had unintentionally filled a gap that was left by her mother and sister.

Was she walking the same line that Talia al Ghul walked?

No. She had fallen off that line a long time ago, choosing the side of justice and good over her own father.

She was glad she waited for her mom.

Artemis shook her head slightly and walked into her room. On her bed was a present. Now, because of the Boy Wonder and his stories, she has started being wary of presents. It was because of all his stories about how the Joker likes to leave presents. She tried to push that aside and picked up the present. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just a present.

A really crappy present.

She opened the gift and was met with _thousands_ ladybugs. Who the hell gives ladybugs as a present? And to Artemis—the girl who was scared of the little scarlet creatures. The bugs flew out of the box and onto every surface they could find, including Artemis herself.

The girl screamed. She absolutely _hated_ ladybugs. There was nothing worse in this world. Her room was covered in hatred. Hatred bugs. Artemis grabbed her compact bow and started using it to smash the bugs. Who cares if she breaks the bow? She was going to kill every goddamned bug in that room.

"Artemis?"

Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.

_ Snap!_

Her compact bow fell apart into two pieces. She started using the two halves of her bow to continue killing the demonic red bugs. No more bugs…

She heard the knob on the door creak. "No Mom!" Artemis tried to make a dive to stop the door. She was too late, though. Her mom opened the door. A huge swarm of the bugs went flying out the open door into the rest of the apartment. At least with her door closed they were contained to her room. Now they were _everywhere_.

Artemis let out a groan. "Where did you get all these ladybugs?" her mom asked.

"A present."

"From who?"

That's a good question.

Artemis walked over to the box that had been thrown when the bugs starting coming out. At the bottom of the box—_ugh,_ there were still ladybugs coming out of it—there was a smiley face with a note.

_Love Dick._

That little douchebag. Artemis was going to skin him alive. Screw being a hero! She was going to _kill _him. No, she was going to get revenge. "Mom, I'm going to be out. I will take care of the ladybugs," Artemis went out even though her mom protested. She grabbed a jacket and her phone. She had about ten messages from Bette and three from Wally—probably complaining about he was _sooooooooooooo_ hungry. Artemis found the Zeta transport and went to the cave.

She ignored her team. They all sent her looks because she had basically stomped into the room without sending anyone a look. "_Someone's PMSing,"_ Wally sang.

Artemis just flipped him off and made it to the teams' quarters. She went into Robin's room. Robin was at his desk messing around on the computer, hacking and shit. "Hey, Arty." He smirked at the fuming girl.

"Not in the mood, kid," she grumbled. She found a pair of his pants on the floor and went through them until she found his wallet. She opened it and took out a hundred dollar bill. "I'll pay you back eventually," she gave him a salute and walked out of the room.

Robin followed on her heels. "What are you planning on doing with the money?" he asked, being the nosy bugger that he was.

"For my mom's medication."

"Uh huh, so what are you _really_ doing?"

"I told you. Mommy's pain medication up-ed in price and we don't have enough," she gave him a little wave before going through the Zeta beam to Gotham. God. Why was Robin being so nosy? Sure, he was always nosy, but this was more so than usual. Wait a second…could it be more than a coincidence that she had gotten ladybugs and the only one that knew she was scared of ladybugs was Robin? It had been one of those nights where she couldn't sleep and neither could he. Insomnia was what kept her up. Batman's screwed up schedule was what kept him up. She _may_ have mentioned to him that she was scared of ladybugs. It was because they had gotten on the topic of Scarecrow and his fear toxin. The first thing out of her mouth was that she would be surrounded by ladybugs. He laughed. She blushed. Then he tried to make her feel better by saying he was scared of jellyfish. Then, they started listing off random fears. Artemis easily won who had the weirdest fears by listing off windows and blankets.

Robin was the only one who knew she was scared of ladybugs.

There was honestly no way…

Nah. It was a coincidence.

Artemis pulled out her phone and texted Bette, _Meet me at Petsmart and bring money._

This was going to be good. Artemis walked to the pets store. It wasn't too far from where she had been, so she got there relatively fast. Bette was already there and smirking at all the pets. "I'm guessing Dick got you too?" she said nonchalantly, while looking at the Oscar fish that were as twice as big as her face.

"Yeah, I'm thinking we go for something a bit _different _than fish and bugs. How about _birds?_" Artemis asked. She walked over to the finch cages. The birds were all brightly colored and chirping around. "They're fifteen each. How much money do you have?"

Bette smirked. "I have a hundred and fifty."

"So we have two-fifty. We can get about fifteen birds and then I think with the left over money we get some _wild _bird seed." Artemis was so glad they were doing this. Dick ruined her house; she is going to ruin his house—in the nicest way possible.

The girls bought their supplies while getting some weird looks from the cashier and everyone who helped them. The two girls drove to Wayne manor—they had changed into their stalking garb. They parked outside of the gate and jumped the fence and made their way to the back of manor. "You sure this is his window?" Artemis whispered to Bette.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Bette nodded. "I love this convenient tree that let's us go up to his room." There was a tree right next to his window that allowed for the girls to climb up to Dick's room. They both slipped in through his window—surprisingly, it wasn't locked. In the room, they let the finches go and spilt the birdseed all over the room. They left a note on his bed. The girls shared a fist bump and left through the window.

When Robin got home after patrol in the morning he wanted nothing more than to just crash. Bruce went down to the batcave to do more work, even though Alfred protested saying he should try and get some sleep. Dick had no objections to getting some sleep. He was surprised he didn't just crash on the couch. He took his suit off as he made his way to his bedroom. His hand hovered over the handle.

He heard chirping.

It was the morning, so it made sense for little birds to be chirping in delight, but it was coming from directly _behind _his door. He opened the door. _Seriously, Artemis? _Not only did she take his money, but she used it against him.

There were about thirty birds in his room. Most of them were common finches that you could buy at the local pet store. The rest were wild birds that had gotten in _through the window they left open._ He groaned. This was going to take _forever_ to clean up. Where was he going to put all these birds?

Dick walked over to his bed, and sure enough there was a note from the culprit—_no_, _culprits_.

_Hope you like birds because we sure do! _

_ Love Artypoo and Bettyboo. _


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys. Sorry for the wait, but I've been dealing with issues...since I'm lonely I'm gonna confide in you. My Grandma just died, so I'm a bit on the non-humorous side. Now I have to drive across the country with the fam to Arizona to go to the funeral and miss a bunch of school. To be honest, I'm not a sad person. I'm not really sad. I'm more of a Wally where I'm in denial until I have crappy dreams of dead relatives (woop, Batfam, much?)Really I'm more...idk right now. I'm not an emotional person, so I'm more just sad about my mom losing her mom. So, while on the road, I'm gonna try and type, but I will probably not be updating this for a week or so? This goes for _Wally and Rob's Video Game Moments_ too (which I've been slacking on, but I've been working on). **

**Sorry. Soooooo sorry for not updating this more. I love this story. Yeah, I realized that Babs was really not making an appearance in the story, but I really am waiting because we are going to have, what I call, the Batgirl ark soon, which is going to be a crap ton of chapters of Artemis and Babs. I'm glad you guys are liking the whole Sportsmaster and Talia stuff (Talia will be addressed again in the Batgirl ark). I read a headcanon that Artemis becomes Batgirl and to be honest, that would be epic. Robin and Artemis sittin' in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Speaking of that. This story is really going to bounce in between pairings of Babs/Dick(Robin)/Artemis. **

**Sorry for talking so long. I'm...lonely? Stressed. Ugh, stress isn't fun. The reviews honestly mean a lot to me and I try to address the ones that ask questions or make comments (besides LOL, U THA GRRL) in the review. So please review and I will give you a complimentary baby from Roy and Cheshire baby making adventures.  
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Camp

Artemis had an uneasy feeling about this day. There was something that was bothering her. It was like…someone was watching her. Once again, she looked behind and still saw that no one was standing there—well no one that was watching her. Artemis was at the gymnastic camp, _again_. She only had one more week of this. She was tired of spending her time after school _at school_ and not somewhere cool, like, the mountain. You know, that place where she preferred to hang out at.

Bette giving her a smack on the butt brought her back to reality. The curly haired blonde sauntered past Artemis to the uneven bars. Bette turned for a second to give Artemis a wink over her shoulder. Artemis smiled and rolled her eyes. The coach rattled off some complicated move for Bette to do. The girl did it perfectly. She started by getting some motion and managed to get herself around the bar once. That was usually the most difficult part. Keeping up the motion of spinning on the bar was fairly simple. She did a flip and grabbed back onto the bar. She did a handstand on the bar and did a flip and twist to the higher bar and flipped back to the lower one. Finally, she did a back flip off of the lower bar to the matt. She stumbled a bit on her landing, but otherwise, she had done pretty well.

The coach scribbled something down on her paper and nodded for Artemis to go. Artemis took a breath. This _technically_ wasn't the tryout yet, but the coach was looking to see who was actually good enough to pay attention to when trying out.

She turned to put the chalk on her hands. She looked up expecting to see Bette and Barbara making obscene gestures at her behind the coach's back, but instead she saw something a lot more interesting.

Robin was standing in the shadows of the bleachers smirking at her. _Smirking at her_. He was decked out in his sunglasses and a hoody with its hood pulled over his head. Even from here, she recognized his signature smirk. Her eyes widened. No wonder she felt like she was being watched earlier.

She tried to clear her thoughts. Nothing good was going to happen if she was thinking about the Boy Wonder while doing flips. She applied just _a bit _too much chalk than was needed and tried to whip it off her hands.

She took another deep breath while stepping up to the uneven bars.

_ Think of puppies, not a certain Bird that is watching you._

She jumped up to the lower uneven bar. Artemis' mind tried to think of what exactly the coach had said as she hung from the lower one. She quickly shifted herself so that she was in a handstand. She started spinning around the beam a couple times to gain momentum. She did a flip to the higher bar, and did one of those weird things where they flip in mid air and start going the other way. Then she did what her a Bette liked to call "the Indecisive". It was when a person did flips off of one bar to get to the other only to flip back onto the other one a few moments later. The constant yanks of this move were killing her shoulder, but it looked impressive.

She ducked into a tight flip and jumped off the higher bar. Like Bette, she stumbled on her landing and almost didn't recover. The coach continued her everlasting poker face that could rival Batman's and wrote something down on her scoreboard. Artemis passed by Bette and Barbara—who was up next—to go talk to the little stalker bird boy. Bette made a joke that she was going to answer a booty call.

She rolled her eyes at her friends to go find her _other _friend. She went to the back of the bleachers to where Robin had been. "Robi—?"

Before she could finish she was pulled into the shadows of behind the bleachers. Robin kept his hand over her mouth. "I'm in _incognito, _Arty. Don't blow my cover," he let go of her so they could actually see each other. He tugged at his hood to make sure if hadn't fallen off. "Call me _Rob._"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say, _Rob_. So what are you doing here?" she pressed.

"Aw, come on! I can't come to see my _amazing _training in progress?" he smirked at her. She was about ready to leave, but he grabbed her arm. "You hurt your shoulder." It was more of a statement than a question. Artemis hadn't even realized it, but she had been rolling her shoulder. That erratic of movements on the uneven bars weren't good for her shoulders, especially since she did stretch those muscles too much.

She had pulled a muscle in her back, and she didn't even notice.  
>Robin noticed, though. He <em>always <em>notices. It's probably because he's a Bat, and Bats notice _everything._ It's almost ridiculous sometimes. It's like M'gann is not the one that reads minds, but like Batman and Robin have some strange power to do that. They notice everything—_"Hey Artemis, there was a staple in your shoe and now your foot is bleeding," "Didn't sleep last night," "Strawberry ice cream is your favorite," _or something along the lines of that. They know almost too much for a person to be comfortable around them. Maybe there's a lack of social skill and that's why it is hard to be around them for long. Robin's better than Batman, though. A hell of a lot better. He only makes comments that when you realize he said it, it makes you think for a second.

Robin was actually okay to be around after you get over the whole _he probably knows everything about you already_. Yeah, get over that and he's a swell friend. Sometimes Robin likes to come over to Artemis' apartment before dinner—in his civvies—and have dinner with Artemis and her mom. Batman has got to be rich. It's obvious with all of the stuff and toys he has while crime fighting and stuff. Artemis isn't an idiot. For the most part. So it makes her wonder if Bats and him have so much money then why does he come over there for dinner? It couldn't be because he actually likes spending time with Artemis… No. There's must be something else. And no. Artemis is _not_ lacking self-confidence…it's just…

The truth was that Robin—no, _Dick_ missed having home cooked meals from an actual _mother_. Sure, he loved Alfred's cooking, nothing could beat it, but there was something about a home cooked meal from a mother. Robin could always go to Wally's, but he would rather have their _actual_ Vietnamese food—don't even get him started on having to watch Wally eat. He also did enjoy spending time with Artemis, and he had to admit her mother was awesome to be around. Sometimes, she lets Robin ride in her wheel chair when Artemis is not in the room.

Artemis rolled her shoulder a couple of more times to confirm that there was a pulled muscle. Ugh, pulling back her bow would be an absolute bitch. She can already feel the burning in her shoulder.

Roy better not challenge her this weekend.

"You need to tuck in more when you're doing the spins; it builds up your speed. And you really shouldn't do a move like that without stretching. Gives you not _asterous_ results, as you can see," his signature grin appeared on his face, but she could hear the seriousness behind his tone. He was always so avid about her stretching. He seemed to always be worried when he watched Artemis when she was swinging on the bars. Robin always made sure she was in the right mindset and everything before they worked on their—_her_—acrobatics together.

It was like he was scared of something.

She couldn't help but smile at the boy and his slaughtering of the English dialect. "Don't you mean disastrous?"

He waved his hand in her face, "Tomato, _tomato_."

"Ha, I was _sooooooo_ right. You were answering a booty call," she nearly jumped away from Robin when Bette appeared next to them. "Sorry kid, but I wouldn't go for Arty. She has herpes," Bette smirked at Artemis. She looked them up and down and raised an eyebrow.

Artemis suddenly became aware of how close her and Robin were under the bleachers. Since there wasn't that much room, it made sense for them to be that close together. But if you throw in a dirty mind and a bit of hormones that Bette so kindly supplied, you get an awkward situation.

Artemis punched Bette in the gut; "Have fun telling your mom you got herpes from me, Miss _I-forgot-my-water-bottle-and-started-drinking-yours-without-asking_."

Bette rolled her eyes, "It solidifies our friendship. Besides, my mom wouldn't care. As long as I don't have your baby, we're cool."

"Listen Rob, I gotta go back to practice. I'll see you—"

"Tonight, like usual, _if you know what I mean_," he gave Artemis that devilish smirk. He gave a little salute before leaving both the girls. Robin left her alone with Bette after saying something like _that._

She was going to kill that kid.

Bette smirked and put an arm around Artemis' shoulder. The faint burning in her shoulder was starting to get really annoying. "So you and the kid, _Rob_? Cute and you two are about the same height, shortstuff." She elbowed Artemis in the ribs.

Artemis rolled her eyes and went to find Barbara. She didn't want to play with Bette right now. Barbara was stretching. Artemis went to go join Barbara, but found that her shoulder and back were killing her. She definitely pulled a muscle. "We're on the floor next. Where'd you disappear to?" Barbara asked. She was sprawled out on the floor doing the splits. She kept on trying to go father, but Artemis didn't see how she could do anymore; she was already doing the splits. Maybe she wanted to split her legs in half or something.

Bette decided that even though the question had been directed towards Artemis, she was better equipped to answer Barbara, "She was answering a _booty call_," she sang.

Barbara raised an eyebrow, "Behind the bleachers? All I can say is class."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "We were just talking."

"Behind the bleachers?"

"We were _just_ talking."

"And by talking she means making babies."

"We were having a _private _conversation."

"That included baby making."

Artemis just rolled her eyes at her friends. She loved them, but she could do without them right now. Especially Bette's constant snickering.

If only Bette knew that the guy she was behind the bleacher with—apparently making babies—was Robin. She would _freak. _Oh God. It would be perfect. Artemis would love just bursting the girl's bubble that she was _making babies_ with the guy she was obsessed—or in love with, as Bette insisted.

Barbara noticed that Artemis wasn't really enjoying the camp or training. She was an observant little bugger that almost reminded Artemis of the Bats and their observant ways. "Hey Artemis, you wanna leave and get a milkshake or something. I'm tired. Bette?"

Artemis smiled. The last time they had gone and got a milkshake, they had stayed at Arby's until midnight. They then got kicked out for disorderly contact…they threatened to call the police. Apparently mixing all of the sugar and salts and then making Artemis chugging it down was not appropriate.

"Duh."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I love you guys. The support means a lot, honestly. All of the love from your reviews makes me want to write. And for the Batgirl stuff, I really want to keep all of it a secret because I've wrote some of it and HGNNN. So this is a two part-er because it just had so much amazing stuff. I felt Dick is a bit awkward. Is he awkward in this? OOC? Oh well. Review and you get a ticket to Superboy's Zoo. This is when Artemis plays Blues Clues with Robin/Dick identity shindig.  
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Picnic

Artemis wasn't going to admit it, but she loved picnics. A lot. So when Dick Grayson offered to take _his girls_ to the park for a picnic, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Spending an afternoon, in a park, with her best (normal) friends, and eating delicious food that Dick's butler lord had prepared seemed like a heavenly dream.

Thank God she hadn't eaten anything before she left. Her mom sent her a look before leaving out the door. It looked like it was mixed between she was regretting telling her daughter to get friends and she was happy that she was sitting around the house playing with her arrows.

_Hurry Crockpot…_

Artemis rolled her eyes. For being someone with so much responsibility and prestige as class president, Bette was _extremely_ impatient. More impatient than Wally. Holy _Frick_, was Wally impatient! To be honest, Wally had a _lot_ of bad traits. She could go around listing them all day long…impulsive…angsty…ignorant…oblivious…flirty…annoying…you get the idea.

So back to the impatient thing, since no one knows Robin's birthday—Artemis is pretty sure Wally knows—Wally throws a birthday party every month for Robin. It is probably just an excuse to have M'gann make a cake for Wally to eat. So they have a party, and it is usually a theme party because Wally says that it would be boring to just have a plain party month after month. They were having a Mexican party—there were posters of Speedy Gonzales everywhere because that's _totally_ what Mexico is all about. Wally had even bought a Speedy Gonzales piñata. He also had found one of Roy's little Speedy hats and stapled it to the top of the piñata—_"Hehe, get it? Speedy?" _

So Artemis was the first to go after the piñata. She had only managed to try and strike the thing once before Wally had let out a groan and took the bat from her and broke the piñata for her.

She used the bat to break his nose for him.

He was just so _impatient_ for everything. He could never wait.

Artemis did have to admit that those birthday parties were usually fun. Especially, the one where they all dressed up in Robin's old uniform—yes, the one with the scaly underooos. God, they were so adorable. How did Robin manage to stay warm in Gotham with that revealing of a uniform? Weren't the girls supposed to have the revealing uniforms?

Artemis nearly tripped down the stairs as she hurried to Bette's car. When Bette said she was leaving if Artemis didn't get down there right away, she was leaving. Artemis was barely in the car door when Bette sped down the road.

"Why didn't we just walk to the park? It's only like a block away," Artemis asked.

Bette shot her a look. "The last time you said that something was a block away, it ended up being two miles away."

Artemis shrugged, "I'm not good with direction."

Bette sent her another look; a look that said _there is a good chance I am going to throw you out of the car now, remember: Duck and roll. _At least she gave Artemis a hint.

They were close to the park. In all honesty, it was not far from Artemis' house at all. They could have walked, but Bette was too lazy to do that. She'd much rather flaunt off her new driving skill to all of her other underage friends. At the park, Barbara and Dick were already there. They were mostly inseparable. They rarely left each other's side.

Artemis should feel like she was being the awkward third wheel around them, but for some reason, she didn't. Maybe it was because Bette was also there. Does that mean her and Bette were getting paired up by default? Ugh. Never. _Don't_. Never put those thoughts together ever _again. _

Getting out of the car, Artemis was reminded of her earlier escapades with Bette by _Bird Watching_. What if this was a whole set up by Bette to get all of us to go _Bird Watching _with her? How would Dick feel about running around taking pictures of a guy in spandex? Maybe he wouldn't mind. He's already kinda stalker-ish… God, she was starting to feel like Wally.

Wally had told her—well, he was telling the story to M'gann and Artemis just _happened_ to be in the same room—about how when he was a kid that he was the sole member of the _Blue Valley Flash Fan Club. _So in his hometown he created his own Flash fan club because he was so obsessed with the Flash. And by fan club he meant _stalking _club. Yeah, Wally was basically stalking his uncle. It was kinda ironic that he ended up becoming Kid Flash with him being such a big fan of Flash. Well, Artemis had based outfit off of Green Arrow because of how she admired him, so she was in the same boat. Superboy didn't have a choice of looking like Superman…

Does Artemis have ADD…?

Bette and Artemis walked through the park to find that Barbara and Dick were already on a blanket, talking. Bette nudged her. "Love_birds_," she cooed.

Dick looked up with a coy smile. "Who are you calling a bird?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Hey Babs, and when did we start associating Dick with birds?" she plopped herself down on the blanket across from Dick.

Bette shrugged and plopped herself down next to Artemis and across from Babs, so they were in a foursome square of friendship. "It's nice to have my girls all together again." He reached behind him and pulled out a basket. "Alfred made us a delicious dinner. I hope you guys like balsamic pasta salad with goat cheese and turkey sandwiches," he flashed the girls, _his girls_, one of his dapper smiles that he always used against the people at Bruce's parties. It always worked on the girls, and this was no exception.

He knew Barbara was probably _infatuated _with him.

Bette wasn't into Dick, but she was _in love_ with Robin.

And Artemis was going to love him whether she liked it or not. At least she has a choice between loving Dick or Robin. She can get the best of both worlds. Although, he can still hear Bruce's words ringing through his ears, and that, to say the least was no comforting.

_In our line of work, we cannot have relationships. _

_ No cuddles, only justice. _

_ People close to you can always be used against you._

_ No, I was _not _referring to _that_. _

_ Or that. _

_ Do not date on the team, it will only get messy. _

_ No, I am _not_ referring to my experiences with Diana. _

_ Or Black Canary. _

_ Don't bring Talia or Selina into this, young man. _

And that's how their conversations about relationships usually go. Bruce says no and Dick brings up every failed and attempted relationship made by Bruce. For being a _billionaire, playboy philanthropist_—emphasis on _playboy_—he did not have a lot of luck in the ladies department. Trust Dick, he would know. He is the lucky one who gets to meet all of Bruce's many, _many_ ladies. Thank God, when Dick says that a lady is not good for Bruce, Bruce listens—for the most part. He still ignores Dick and Alfred when he goes out with Talia al Ghul or Selina Kyle.

A boy can try.

So Dick does what every girl absolutely loves. He tries to feed them. Now being on a three way date—or at least that is what he is calling it in his mind—he knows he has to have fun with this while being careful not to step any lines. He has to take into account of how each of them will respond.

Barbara will probably try and feed Dick.

Bette will enjoy it.

Artemis will be skeptical of Dick's motives.

With all that considered/, he goes in for the kill. He picks up a fork, stabs a piece of pasta, and puts it in front of Barbara's mouth. She raises an eyebrow, as if she is considering the offer while at the same time figuring out a way to counter it. "You're going to feed me?"

"Well all of you, but this piece of pasta belongs to you."

Artemis and Bette are sitting there with bemused expressions on their face; their jaws slightly agape. They probably see him and Barbara as a couple. He needs to get rid of that enigma.

In a swift movement, that if he weren't also Robin he would have chipped Artemis' front teeth, he put the piece of pasta in her mouth. Artemis flushed a bright shade of pink. "I didn't specify _who_ I was talking to_._"

Artemis quickly swallowed the pasta. She easily recovered from the moment of embarrassment. She picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of pasta. Her fork hovered in front of Barbara's mouth. "I would much rather have my tongue in your mouth, but this pasta will do," Artemis mocked Dick.

Barbara put on her best _awe_ face. "Artemis, how are you such a ladies woman?" she muttered. Barbara carefully took the pasta off of the fork with her teeth and ate it. "Oh Artemis, it almost tastes as good as you," she reached for Artemis' hands and took them in her own.

Dick rolled his eyes, "Whatever, you guys will never be able to attract the girls like I do." He let his eyes wander to Bette, who was sitting there shredding the bread that had been in the basket. She had been completely oblivious to the whole ordeal that was happening between the two new lovebirds, Artemis and Babs. Dick raised an eyebrow at Bette when she finally looked up to see Dick staring at her.

She made a slight nod towards the pond, "I spy me some ducks." Sure enough, there were some ducks in the pond just wasting their life away. "Can we go feed the duckies?" she asked in the blatantly childlike voice that every teenager used to get what they want.

It worked.

She quickly ran over to the pond where the ducks were and slipped off her shoes because that was totally relevant to feeding the ducks. She waded into the water and started throwing in little pieces of bread. Dick followed her and Artemis and Barbara weren't too far behind—they were still mocking Dick by feeding each other.

Bette handed all of them some of the ripped up bread—except for Barbara because she wasn't exactly on talking terms with ducks, much less feeding terms. It had happened when her and Dick had gone to the Gotham Zoo over the summer. The Zoo was one of the best ones in the United States because they basically had everything. Also, most of the animals you could pet or interact with in some way, shape, or form.

Barbara had managed to get bitten or scratched by everything single animal.

The goat had ate part of her socks, the sting ray had bit her hand, the sea turtle went for her finger, the deer tried to unclothe her, the shark actually bit her, the swan managed to get a nip at her ankle, the tortoise dripped its shell on her foot, the macaw nearly took her finger off, the sun conure busted her ear drum, the cougar cut her hand, the monkey dislocated a finger, the zebra had spat at her, the dolphin splashed her, the wild boat charged at her, the wild dogs snapped at her, the peacocks that roamed the zoo chased her, and the ducks had nearly bit her toes off.

So yeah, Babs wasn't an animal person to say the least.

Artemis and Dick joined Bette in the water as they fed the little ducks their feed. Bette started talking about how much she _loved _birds. Dick could hear the implications behind those words. Bette started talking about how much she loved _robins_—or rather, _Robin_. It made him want to snort at how ironic it was.

If only Bette knew that she was standing next to Robin right now…

Sometimes, Robin just wanted a day where he could say whatever he wanted and there would be no consequences; like the next day everyone would forget about it. He could tell all of his friends _everything_. He wouldn't have to keep drawing the same line that separated Dick Grayson from Robin. He could let those two sides morph together. He wondered what that person would be like.

That person would be like the one he was when he was around Artemis. Artemis had connections to both of his lives, and yet she was completely oblivious to everything around her. Since she was so oblivious, Dick let those two sides merge together—of course, only when they are alone. He couldn't act like Robin around Babs, nor act like Dick Grayson around M'gann. Around Artemis he acted like both, and it was _weird_. He wasn't used to it. Even when he was with Alfred or Bruce, there is a slight distinction between Dick Grayson and Robin.

Artemis is just a crappy eraser that smudges everything together and blinds it. Dick just has to learn how to take her smudges and make them into art instead of a mess.

Dick smirked and tossed his last piece of bread to a duck. Artemis had gotten out a while ago because apparently she was like Babs, and ducks don't really like her either. She was having trouble slipping her boots onto her wet feet. Dick was glad he wasn't a girl and had to deal with tough fashion statements.

He slipped on both of his shoes easily, but something didn't feel right…

A pair of hands pressed into his back and pushed him into the water. He tried to catch his footing, but realized his feet were tired together. His laces weren't tied together though… Ah, fishing line on the bottom of the shoe; no doubt this is the work of Babs. She was always good at catching him off guard. To confirm his suspicions Bette and Babs shared a little fist bump. "You've been so preoccupied with Crockpot that we had to remind you who is the real pranksters in this relationship," Babs smirked.

Dick was wet. Like _really_ wet. He was glad that it wasn't too late in the year in Gotham; otherwise, he would be chilled to the bone and might have a slightly case of hypothermia. He felt his normally slicked back bangs stick to forehead. It was so nice not to have his hair gelled and be free of the sticky embrace.

A towel was thrown at him, and he caught it with ease. His eyes drifted up to the thrower. It was Artemis. She had this _glint_ in her eyes like she had just caught a mouse in a trap…

Or maybe a Robin.

**A/N (Part 2?): Sorry, but when I was on the road I passed by a place called Red Arrow's Llama Farm. I nearly died. Just for your information.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you for pointing out the awkward POV switching, Princess. I saw where I did that and that was a product of writing this on sleep deprivation while in Texas at 3:23 in the morning. I will try and differentiate between the POVs with a more obvious switch. I love how all of you were like Dick Grayson+Wet Clothes=Good Day. Yeah. So for the pairings which everyone was like _whaat?_ This story is going to stay pretty neutral in the pairings. This chapter is about as RobArt this whole story will get (except for next chapter). I'm gonna try and balance it out. There are going to be snippets of Spitfire, Roy/Artemis (my secret pairing), Dick/Babs, One sided Bette/Robin, Robin/Batgirls. The only pairing I will not tease about will be Robin/Zantana because I'm used to her with Bats (She made Batman _SING_). So review or I'm going to bite you now.  
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Blue's Clues

Artemis Crock was trying so hard to keep the smirk off her face. It was almost becoming an enigma. She was right. Artemis Crock was right for once in her life. She had been wrong about her family getting back together. She had been wrong that Robin and Wally having a relationship. She had been wrong about the apocalypse. She had been wrong about who was going to win the Super Bowl. She had been wrong about whether Roy wears boxers or briefs—boxer briefs, the little cheater; story on how she knew that later. She had been wrong on answer ten on her last math test.

This time, Artemis was right.

But there was that little voice in the back of her head that was saying. _That kid is too scrawny to be Robin._ Robin was quite scrawny though, to be honest. Sure, there were some muscular features to him, but it wasn't that profound as someone like ab-tastic Roy Harper. _He was too smart, or maybe stupid to be Robin. _Dick was smart, but was he really smart enough to be the World's Greatest Detective's partner? Maybe some of his normal idiocy was a ploy to confuse Artemis. He was using Artemis' own paranoia against her! _Why would Dick Grayson be Robin?_

Huh.

That's a good one.

_Why?_

The kid was the son—ward, _whatever_—of Bruce Wayne. This kid probably has all he could ever want. There was no obvious angst present in Dick Grayson that Robin always had hints off. Was it like he turned off the awkward angst in Grayson and transferred it to Robin? Robin would be uber angsty…which he kinda is.

Artemis kind of just stared at the boy in disbelief. There was no way that they were the same person. No, the guy she hung out at school was different from the one she hung out at night. But the way his hair hung down wet, no longer pulled up by the gel that he always used. His bangs fell wet on his forehead. It reminded her of the Red incident. They had been wet the entire time, so she should be able to spot a wet Robin from a mile away.

She wasn't even five feet away from the wet Robin in front of her. It gave her all the clues she needed. It was basically obvious. Especially to Artemis, who has been spending most of her time with his other identity for the past couple months. Did he really expect her not to put this together? What if there was a reason why they went to the same school—it had been _his_ dad—guardian, _whatever_—that had paid for her school. Her mind started swimming with _what ifs_ and crazy scenarios.

Artemis was half tempted to place her hand over his eyes to confirm her suspicions.

She refrained though, knowing that Dick or Robin would not be happy if she would start pulling stunts like that in front of Bette and Barbara, who probably also had her own suspicions.

Wally owed her fifty bucks.

The two of them had an on going bet on who would get to see Robin without his glasses first—or rather as they called it "stealing his eye virginity". Artemis _soooooo_ won. Not only did she take Robin's eye virginity—actually, she took it a long time ago—but she also knew whom he was. Robin is Dick Grayson. Dick Grayson is Robin. Dick's Robin. Robin's…Dick? Okay, that didn't flow as nicely as the others. Huh, she always thought Robin was more of a Jason or Tim, maybe even a Damian. It didn't matter because the kid next to her was her friend in more than one retrospect.

Why didn't she realize it sooner?

Hell, she had already had all the clues she needed, like this was some weird game of _Blue's Clues_. God, did she miss watching that show with her sister. It was basically the only TV show that she watched as a kid. Her and Jade would wake up early in the morning and watch it. They would be in their little footy pajamas—if you ask Jade, she will insist she never watched that show nor wore the footy pajamas—and watched the children's TV show. They would always try and find the clues before each other. It was a competition. Everything was a competition between the two sisters. _Everything._

So let's see…Clue 1.

It was how he looked. He had the same build—_yes,_ because he was wet she could easily see his muscles that he always hid; maybe since he was wet she could convince him to take his shirt off—as Robin and everything, same dark hair, same lithe body that she did like looking at, same sarcastic quips that he made, same accidental word play, same demonic smirk, same _everything._ Well, maybe not _everything, _but the similarities were enough to cause her to have schizophrenic nightmares. Yes, Dick Grayson/ Robin gives her schizophrenic nightmares.

Clue 2.

Him being able to break into her house twice. At first, she thought that it was just an assumed trait. Everyone knows how to break into houses. Oh wait—that was only her family. The first time, she didn't suspect anything. It had been when he had planted the ladybug bomb in her room. Artemis just figured her mom had just let him in and he had paid her to keep quiet and play along, but no. Her mom wasn't in on the joke.

That left him with coming into her room through the fire escape. This would have been a very acceptable method, except the fire escape on her building wasn't exactly up to _par._ It was about a two-story drop down from the final platform to the ground. There was no way he could have jumped up two-stories. Even if he had some how managed to get to her window, how did he pick her lock? It was a high-grade lock that _Robin just happened to pick every night. _Coincidence? Maybe. Likely? was a little sneak. Then, he broke in again _while_ Artemis and her mother were in the house. He had left a caged finch on her bed. It must have been one of the millions that she had left in his room. But that raised the question: how did he know which room was hers and how did he break in?

Clue 3.

To be fair, this one wasn't Robin or Dick Grayson's fault. School had just been dismissed and all of the students of Gotham Academy were finding their appropriate modes of transportation. Artemis and Bette usually drove together, so Artemis was waiting in the courtyard for Bette. Artemis sighed; Bette always took a long time because she was on the other side of the school for last hour. Her and Dick have last hour together, so they usually talk before Bette comes. This time, Dick excused himself saying that he had to ask his teachers something. Now, Artemis wasn't nosy. She had honestly forgotten something in her locker—not a common occurrence. Low and behold, she turned a corner to see Wally West talking to Dick Grayson.

Her breath caught in her throat. Wally was going to find out whom she was! Wait. Wally knew Dick? Dick was supposed to be _her_ friend—not that she was territorial over Dick or anything. He could have as many friends as he wanted, but Wally West? Wally had a friend in Gotham. _What if…_

Clue 4.

That clue was sitting right in front of her with his hair wet and not in its usual gelled form. Artemis felt confliction in between punching him in the gut, playing with his hair, and just not doing anything because all of these things could just be coincidences. She couldn't do anything because Babs and Bette were still sitting there. They didn't know what they had just done. What they had just exposed.

Babs pulled out her phone to take pictures of the wet boy. Her brow knit together when she looked down at her phone. She got this look on her face that said something was not right. Artemis immediately wanted to know what was wrong, and then maybe help. Dick looked even more anxious to help Babs. Even in his dripping form he looked ready to help the red head.

Yes, she was _so_ seeing the similarities between Robin and Dick now.

"I need to go…something's come up with my Dad," Babs mumbled. Something was up. Artemis could tell by the tone of her voice. Something was throwing her off. Something was _really_ off. Barbara had a problem and it looks like she wasn't going to tell Artemis…or maybe anyone. She looked over to Bette, "Can you drive me home. I need to get home _now._" Surely, Artemis wasn't the only one catching the urgency in Babs' voice.

Dick had caught it. "Babs, I can call Alfred and take you home. What's going on?" he reached out and grabbed Barbara's hand. Artemis suddenly realized just how close the two of them were. They had been friends _years_ before Artemis had come into the picture. They weren't just friends that laughed together and hung out together. They actually _cared_ about each other. The two of them relied on each other.

From what Artemis understood, Barbara's dad was rarely home. Then, since she now assumed—or _knew_—that Dick's probably wasn't home a lot either. That left him and Barbara in the same boat. They weren't exactly comfortable with talking to their guardian figures in their life, but they had each other and that was obviously good enough. That made Artemis curious. Does Babs know about Dick's _extracurricular activities?_

Barbara sent Dick a look; an obviously longing look like she wanted to tell him, but it was guarded. "It's my Dad, Dick," she answered hesitantly, picking up her bag and other stuff in the process. She shouldered her bag and Bette joined her. They shared a concerned looked. Bette knew what was the matter with Barbara. "My mom is…back," and with that Barbara and Bette left.

Artemis turned her attention to Dick. He threw himself on the picnic blanket looking defeated. Barbara had turned to Bette and not him. There was an obviously hurt look on his face. Whenever he had a problem, he turned to Babs; and now she had a problem, but she didn't go to him.

"What does she mean by her _mom_?" Artemis asked.

Dick didn't look at her; he was obviously stuck in his thoughts. "Her mom left when she was younger. I didn't know that she was back, though." The boy obviously seemed upset by what was going on with Barbara. Artemis wanted to put a hand on Dick. To somehow comfort him. She didn't know how though. So, she did it the way in which she normally deals with issues.

Avoiding them.

"So, Dick…have I ever told you how much I like your eyes?" she said, scooting closer to him. It was so fun watching how fast Dick went from being upset to a bit flustered. She loved teasing the boys on the team—especially Wally and Dick—because of their raging hormones making them optimal victims. "They're a pretty shade of blue…like a _Robin_ egg blue."

Dick Grayson quickly caught the hint in her words and her voice. He wanted to just avoid the topic. Maybe bring up something else to talk about, but he was almost tired of avoiding this. What did Bats think when he brought Artemis to his school?

_Keep an eye on her._

Okay, of course he can do that. It would be an easy—

_Do not become close to her in your civilian identity. _

Seriously. What was Dick going to do? Stalk her? Yeah, that's what Bats probably expected to him. This was probably one of the first times where Dick had blatantly ignored his directions. He wasn't just going to act like Artemis didn't exist when she was going to _his_ school. That was just an opportunity waiting. He couldn't let this pass up. He was glad he didn't let it pass up. Artemis was actually a great friend in both aspects of his life. He was sad that he didn't get to mess with her anymore, but he knew that she was going to end up putting this together eventually. Artemis was a smart girl, and he had left enough hints that she could catch.

"That's an enthralling adjective you used there," he said, trying to put a bit of distance between them.

Artemis was having none of that. "I think it's fitting actually."

"I think that it is quite _unthralling _to me."

Artemis smirked like this was all apart of her master plan to pin Dick Grayson in between a hard place and Batman. "_Fine_, if you don't like your eyes so much why don't you just…_cover them_." She raised her hand and covered his eyes with her hand. If Dick Grayson felt awkward before, it was nothing compared to now.

Yes, Dick had finally gotten over the stage where he was uncomfortable with girls near him, and now he actually _liked_ having girls around him—for various reasons. It was because of his raging hormones. He laughed when Roy started obsessing over girls back when it had been right after they first met. Although, a hormone raging Roy is not that different from the Roy today—he's just able to suppress the hormones, kinda.

Wally was on the tail end of his raging hormones. They were still in full throttle, turning all appropriate thoughts were turning dirtier than Clayface's inner bowels. Robin has been face to face with Clayface's inner bowels, and, to say the least, it was not a pleasant experience. Alfred had to sponge bathe him for three weeks.

Dick hated sponge baths.

So now Dick, with a girl pressed up against him, was making his newfound hormones going whack. He didn't even like Artemis that way! Sure, he had noticed how her suit was very _appropriately_ skin-tight, and he very much approved of being able to watch her and help her with agility. Did Artemis like noticing that stuff too? Or was that just a guy thing. He hopes not. It can be _very_ distracting sometimes.

He felt like Wally, the boy who is attracted to everything that has boobs.

Robin was not okay with this.

Dick, on the other hand, was a hormonal, teenage boy and Artemis was, truthfully, an attractive girl, so when Artemis put her hand over his eyes—he automatically assumed the worst—or best, considering a change of perspective—or identity.

She was going to kiss him.

If he were to put aside the facts that they were teammates—hell, if he could put aside _everything_—he would be okay with that. No, he wasn't okay, though. Roy liked Artemis. Wally liked Artemis. It was like an Artemis love boat and Dick was pretty sure he was going to end up stuck on a buoy trailing behind.

Artemis had a thing for red-heads.

_Still_ being a _guy_ and all, he let himself hope. He could feel her leaning closer, her body almost leaning against his. It would be all right. She was one of his girls, after all. Her lips ghosted across his cheek, leaving a trail of bright pink. They settled next to his ear.

"Grayson, you are such a fucking douchebag," she punched him in the gut and pushed him against the grass. He automatically groaned when he hit the grass.

_So close…_

She laughed and lay down next to him, so she was on her stomach and he was on his back. He placed both of his hands behind his head as a pillow while she mirrored him but put it under her face as a pillow instead. She cocked her head so she could look at him. On her face was the most _shit eating_ _grin_ Dick had ever seen. "I don't know whether to beat the shit out of you, kiss you, or suffocate you with that cup over there." She was glaring at him, but there was an obvious humor to her words. She was obviously glad to have this whole secret identity fiasco done with.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dick could at least try to keep the secret going even though it was a losing battle. Bruce was going to have his ass if he ever found out about this…

Artemis gave him the ugliest glare she could muster, "I know where you live, Pretty Bird. I will castrate you in your sleep." Dick wasn't sure if she actually meant it or not. She had threatened to but Bette once. She ended up cutting Bette with a very sharp knife that seemed to appear out of thin air—she must be getting magic lessons from Zantanna.

Hey, you can take the girl out of the assassins, but you can't take the assassin out of the girl.

"You do realize you can't tell anyone about this."

"I won't tell a soul—and I guess I won't tell any gingers too."

Dick gave Artemis one of _those_ smiles and she gladly returned it. "Cute. But seriously. No one besides you, me, Bats, A, Roy, and Wally know about the whole secret ID dealio. You can't tell anyone you know."

Artemis propped herself onto her elbows. "Wait, Roy knows? I assumed Kid Jackass would know, but not Roy the Boy Toy." Dick laughed at the nicknames that Artemis had given them. Roy and Wally would keel over if they knew that Artemis knew about the whole Artemis-knowing-Dick-Grayson-was-Robin thing. Hell, they would die if they knew that Artemis knew who Dick was.

They would die if they were to see Artemis with Dick…

"Hey, Crockpot. I have a birthday party coming up and I was thinking that I need to introduce my new _girlfriend _to Roy and Wally."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I am a whore. This was supposed to be one chapter! And now it's a two part-er? I'm sorry guys. I love how all of you think I'm funny cause it makes me warm and fuzzy inside. HOLY PUPPIES. Did you guys see the description for _Performance_? The YJ episode after _Insecurity_. THE TEAM GOES UNDERCOVER AT HALY'S CIRCUS. Hm...Haly's Circus...why does that sound familiar? Oh yeah BECAUSE DICK GRAYSON WAS APART OF HALY'S CIRCUS...and then his parents died. Oh. Angst. I just wanna see his eyes again. I love all of the reviewers that are analyzing my stuff because I do put in a crap ton of hints and easter eggs. So please read and review because next chapter is gonna be in BAMF Wally's POV and Timmy cameo. **

Birthday

_A birthday party? Oh that would be amazingly fun. Of course I will go. Oh, and by birthday party you mean gala. That's cool. I have to dress up? Don't worry. I totally don't mind wearing skirts or dresses. Oh, Roy's going to be there? Cool. We'll totally dance together like we don't want to rip each other faces off. Wally is gonna be there too? Wow, all these surprises are just making me so excited to go to your party. _

Bullshit.

The only reason she was going to this party was because she loved Grayson—in the friend way. But tonight, they were going to screw with Wally and Roy. They were going to screw them so badly that they were going to think that Artemis is the lovechild of the Joker and Harley Quinn. Hey, she _is_ blonde. She was so excited. Roy and Wally were going to flip shit when they saw Artemis there. They were going to end up going into going into shock once they found out about _The Surprise._

Artemis loved Dick Grayson.

The dress she was wearing was a completely different matter, though. She tugged down on her dress one more time. The dress was too short. It was showing off too much skin, in her opinion. So when she walked into the living room for her mom to see, she expected her mom to be shocked at the amount of leg.

Nope.

Her mom was glad.

"Maybe you will find a boyfriend in that dress," her mom supplied after giving Artemis a head-to-toe look.

Artemis groaned, "Mom, I don't want a boyfriend, and don't you think this dress is a bit revealing?"

Her mom rolled her eyes, "Artemis, you run around at night in a skin tight outfit with a midriff. You don't have a say of what is revealing and what isn't." God, she forgot how sassy her mom was, and everyone thinks she gets her sass from her Dad. Artemis was lucky—or unlucky—enough to have two extremely sassy parents.

Artemis looked into the mirror. Sure, she looked good, _really _good, but was looking good worth a little dignity?

_Yes,_ her inner Bette said.

"Artemis, honey, this is a boy's birthday party you are going to, right?"

"Yes, Mom, it's for Dick Grayson, remember?"

"Well, even if he doesn't like you, give him the gift of seeing you in that dress."

"_Mom_!" Artemis flushed bright red. Ugh, Roy and Wally were going to end up seeing her in this dress. The dress was a LBD made of black leather with a straight neckline and very low black. It was classy, but just short. It was weird wearing a dress again. She hadn't worn a dress since the time she was in beauty pageants.

Yes, her mom, who was a villain, made Artemis do beauty pageants. _It will make you become more graceful and more trained and in tune to your body, Artemis. It will be good for you._ Yeah, being forced to be fancy and do tricks like a dog would help her in real life as an assassin—at the time she did the beauty pageants, she still thought she was going to end up being an assassin like her Mom and Dad. For her talent, could she juggle knives? No, that wasn't exactly allowed. So how was being in a beauty pageant supposed to be helpful?

Now that she looks back on it, it was probably just a way for her mom to get embarrassing childhood photos. Oh God, some of the photos are absolutely _horrendous. _It was horrible when her mom showed them to Bette and Dick.

It was the worst when she showed them to Roy.

Roy had been over at her house because as Green Arrow's "niece" she was now apart of the "family", which meant she was invited to "family" dinner night with the rest of them—which meant her, Dinah, Ollie, and Roy. The whole Arrow Family. Roy always likes to pick her up and rub it in her face that he knows who she is and about her past. Artemis _assumes_ that he doesn't know that she goes to Gotham Academy, otherwise tonight might not be as big as a surprise as she hoped.

Who is she kidding—tonight is going to be _amazing._

So she had come home after a study session with Babs—the chick was better in history than she was even though she was a grade lower. Artemis walks into her living room and finds Roy and her mother looking at a crap ton of baby pictures of Artemis.

_Why Roy?_

He acted like the stereotypical older brother's hot friend—she would just say older brother, but that would be considered incest—_Arrowcest?_—and Artemis doesn't swing that way. She was attracted to him, but he teased her and annoyed her to no end. It was so freaking annoying. He had found out that Artemis had had a crush on Speedy before she had joined the super world. There was no end to that punishment.

Roy would go out of his way to buy her Speedy—and what Red Arrow he could find—memorabilia. She had about fifteen Speedy shirts ("Wear them when training with Dinah"), three posters of shirtless Red Arrow ("You know, when you have a lonely night"), six of his little yellow hats ("Hey, _Speedy 2.0_"), a Speedy inspired toy bow and arrow ("Ha, it even comes with it's own trick arrows"), a documentary of his life ("Most of the info is wrong, but it had a crap ton of pictures of me, so you should like it"), a Red Arrow mug ("To go with your Batmug"), and a statue of Red Arrow ("Do my arms really look that good?")

Even though she told Roy that she had burnt all of the stuff, she had kept it all. With the exception as using some of them as _white elephant_ gifts. She had given Bette and Babs a shirt each, so now every third Saturday of the month they would wear the shirts—Speedy Saturday, as they called it. Bette was working on getting badass Robin shirts for Robin Thursday.

Artemis loved her friends.

Artemis' mom had been the one to tell Roy about her "little girl's crush". Now her mom was showing him baby pictures. Really? He had smirked and walked up to Artemis with a picture in his hand. It was one of the talent show pictures. She was wearing a sparkly white tutu. _I'm going to buy you this,_ he had told her.

He bought it.

She really hated Roy and how attractive he was.

She also hated how short his dress was. "Artemis-honey, you look really beautiful—especially with your hair down. You look so much like your father," her mother grabbed her hand and started rubbing Artemis' palm with her thumb. Of course, she brought up Dad again. Her mom tried to act like she was over Dad, but she wasn't. Artemis knew her mother still went out to lunch with him every so often. Her mom still loved him. Hell, Artemis still loved him. It is hard to let go of someone who had been so apart of your life, and Artemis couldn't yet. Maybe one day she will let go of her dad, but not yet.

She sent a sad smile to her mom, "Yeah, I know, Mom."

"Didn't this come with that bow?" her mom asked.

Artemis ran a hand through her hair—one of the reasons why she kept it up was because when it was down she always played with it. "I took it off."

Her mom shot her a look. "They put that belt on for a reason, Artemis." Artemis went to her room and grabbed the cobalt blue bow off of her bed. "Mom, it's a _bow_!" she whined. Huh, it was a bow, and she was an arrow. Bow and Arrow.

Her mom rolled her eyes and took the bow from Artemis, "Turn around, Artemis-honey. This bow will look amazing on you," she chided. Her mom fixed it, so that the there was a huge bow in the back of her leather dress. She heard a knock on the door and took that as a signal for her to bolt. "You're wearing the heels!" her mom called after her.

She opened the door to find Bette, her lovely chauffeur for everything. "Remember _you're_ the present!" Artemis flinched at her mom's words.

Bette smirked. "You're mom made you put on the bow," it was more of a statement than an actual question.

"So?"

"You like a present."

"That's the point!"

"_Mom!_"

"Stop whining, Artemis-honey. It makes you look uglier than usual. Remember the rules Artemis—"

"Don't bring him home and don't get knocked up. Got it, Mom."

"Have I ever told you I love your mom?"

_You're not the only one._

"Did you know that you could get your tongue cut off in the door?"

Bette sent her one of _those_ smiles and Artemis returned it. They got in the car and started driving off to Dick's party. They were _fashionably _late because they wanted to be—not because _someone _forgot to put gas in the tank.

Arriving at the party was a bit daunting. When Dick said it was a gala, he wasn't kidding. The place was full of people, and Artemis assumed that a good amount of them were just work friends of Mr. Wayne—or Batman, as Artemis was now getting used to. Wait, Batman had friends?

Artemis wasn't really _comfortable _with big crowds. They were nice and good to get lost in, but in such an enclosed space, they were just breeding grounds for panic. Thankfully for Bette and Artemis, Barbara found them before they started aimlessly walking around like the little ducklings they were. Bette and Babs were in on Dick's plan to freak Wally and Roy out. They didn't really get why Artemis and Dick dating would be so weird to a two guys from Central and Start City, but as long as they got to watch the horrible face that Roy and Wally would make, it would be worth it. And Artemis had promised that they would get Dick _really_ good after this to make up for the awkward joke that they didn't really understand.

Babs easily led them through the crowd to the boys. It was like she was used to going through these crowds. Since her father was police commissioner and good friend of Dick's dad, it was a good assumption that he was usually invited to these sort of things, and he probably brought Babs. It is a good thing that the two of them have each other for these sorts of events.

When Artemis saw the guys, she nearly collapses. The sex appeal was just _oozing_ off of them. They were all wearing suits. _Suits. _Artemis would never admit that Wally was attractive, but _hot damn_, that suit. It has to be the suit. Him and Dick were both wearing a black suit while Roy was wearing a gray suit. Seeing a guy in a suit for a girl is like seeing a girl in lingerie for a guy. She was about ready to abandon the whole plan just so she could stare at Roy all night, and when her eyes got tired she could stare at Dick.

Babs and Bette didn't look like they were holding up much better. Bette looked like she was about to jump one of them at any moment and Babs would take the other.

Did Artemis mention how _hot_ they looked in the suits?

The team should seriously consider wearing suits for every mission.

Artemis was _totally _going to pitch that to Batman next time.

"I say we just go for a foursome with Mr. Tall Dark and Redheaded," Bette whispered.

Sounds good.

"Maybe we can invite Dick and Red-Head Number Two later," Barbara added on. "A six-some?"

"As long as Red-Headed Angst is with us, I am okay."

The girls laughed and walked into the group. Dick had probably spotted them from across he ballroom. He opened his arms and _his girls_ went to him. He purposely entwined his fingers with Artemis and brought her the closest.

It was time for Robin to become a _love dove._

Dick's hair was also not gelled, which just made him all the more attractive. It wasn't that hard for Artemis to pretend. Now this next part was going to be a bit harder—thank goodness Dick has been giving her lying lessons. "Artemis? What are you doing here?" Wally was _gaping_ at her.

Did she mention how much she loved the faces Wally randomly makes? "What are you doing here?"

"I asked you first."

"I'm more important."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"You're not denying it."

"Wally. Artemis." Roy scolded. Somehow the redhead always managed to get the two of them to shut up no matter what the circumstances.

"Huh, do you guys know each other? That is so interesting," Dick said with a smirk on his face. He was so playing both of them. "How do you two know each other?"

Artemis looked to Wally with wide-eyes. She was supposed to play the confused friend who really sucks at lying. "Me and Artemis are cousins," Roy stepped in. Thank God. Huh, he must have saved her on his own behalf of his secret identity on not on her behalf. Must have. "She's Ollie's brother's daughter to be specific," Roy added.

Dick nodded, "I met Roy through his dad, Arty. His dad, _your uncle_, runs Q-Core, which sometimes works with Wayne Corporations. Wally's just a freeloader that comes with Roy a lot," Dick explained and pulled Artemis a bit closer. Roy was the first to notice that there was something going on. Why was Dick so close to Artemis?

Why were they holding hands?

_Jesus Christ no._

"Guys, meet _my girls_ the beautiful Barbara and Bette. Girls, meet _my gingers_ Roy and Wally." Bette and Babs were whispering to each other—probably arguing on whoever got Roy. Bette was probably going to win because Babs was just a bit too young for the eighteen year old, but when did age ever stop anyone? "And this, this is _my_ Arty," he smiled and pulled her even closer.

"Dick…" she protested.

"My _girlfriend,_" he pulled her in for a kiss.

Wally West on the other hand just successfully vibrated through a solid object for the first time while simultaneously suffering from a heart attack. It certainly is a good thing he landed in the Batcave. Oh wait. That isn't a good thing.

Wally—the very stoic—West just suffered from his first mindfuck of the night and he was certain that there was going to be a crap ton more.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Did we just hit a 100 reviews? My babies. I love you guys so much. All the reviews make me giddy with love. (Excuse Mama Paz) Dear, mika, I was in gymnastics and every practice we had to do 50 push ups at each practice and I was 10 at the time. We didn't have to do them in a row (I dropped down every 10 to re-do my grip). And Artemis is an archer so her arm strength is ridiculous. I try to keep everything in this story realistic. Okay, done. Frick. I love how everyone notices stuff. Artemis' outfit was a play on Nightwing. FYI. Bette and Babs' were their respective costumes. Excuse my excessive use of the word "whore". Wally needs some soap and better insults. So you guys should review and I'll give you each a video of Wally and Roy finding out.  
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Consequences

Wally "the Boss" West was having a perfectly fine day until that little _whore_ ruined everything. He was celebrating _his _best friend's birthday and everything was fine. Roy had already gotten six girls numbers and he was going to share with Wally. Wally had gotten Dick the most freaking amazing birthday present ever—one hundred dollars worth of stuff from the dollar store. Of course he had gotten that money from Dick's wallet, but he would never find that out.

Everything was _great_ until Whore McSlutty Midriff showed up.

She pranced into the party with her little groupies, hot blondie and hot redhead, like it was her party. She had no right to do that. She deserved to die. Okay, maybe not _die_, but suffer and get tortured. Maybe her torture can be that she can never wear a midriff again. Yeah, that would be _horrible_ for Archawhore.

She did look, kinda, hot, and stuff, but that was beside the point. The only reason she looked hot was because she was wearing something similar to what a prostitute would wear. She was wearing a mini dress made of _leather_. She must be kinky or something. She must also have a whip or something in her back pocket, so she can…

Artemis is a whore.

Now her friends on the other hand, Wally thought were very _beautifully_ dressed. The blonde chick was in some red corseted dress that flowed out after that. Then there was a gold chain necklace that draped across her shoulders like a spider web. Red and gold look really good on her. The redhead, Barbara—Wally remembers her because Dick may or may not have a crush on her—was wearing a simple black dress with mess inserts. Both of them looked great. Way better than the _whore_.

Wally started arguing with her because that's what they do. Argue. It's much more fun than actually trying to carry out a conversation with her. She is much too angry to actually hold a conversation with. She takes every too seriously. That's why Wally has nicknamed her Angstemis—Roy is Angroy. Every archer gets their own special name in Wally's mind.

Then Wally notices something.

Artemis is holding Dick's hand.

Maybe Wally would have over looked this if this was Robin and Artemis because Robin likes holding everyone's hand—except for Superboy, he doesn't do hand holding. Hell, Robin likes cuddling with everyone—or thing, he had caught him with Sphere once. But this wasn't _Robin_ this was _Dick Grayson._ How the Hell does she know Dick Grayson? And from how their argument was going, she doesn't seem to know that Dick and Robin were the same person.

_Something just isn't right here. _

Then, Wally starts to notice _other _things. The caring glances that Dick keeps sending Artemis like he actually cares about her. His thumb was rubbing small circles into her palm while she continued to argue with Roy.

Did he just put his arm around Artemis?

Holy Puppy Litter.

This was _not _happening. Dick and Artemis…no…no. Wally was sure this couldn't be true. It was a joke. It wasn't real. He was dreaming. Did fear gas hit him? Must have because this is one of the scariest things he has ever—

_My Arty_?

What the fu—

_My girlfriend. _

They kissed. Holy freaking Jesus pony. There was no way. They are dating. Dick Grayson and Artemis were _dating_. They're kissing. Dick is supposed to be his friend! Artemis is supposed to be his love interest! This is not happening.

Wally West just succeeding in vibrating his way through a solid object for a first time. Of course, he managed to fall through the floor of Wayne manor and into the Batcave, but what does he expect? He just witness his best friend and his _whore_—wait, he didn't mean _his_—kiss. They were dating.

"Master West, I am afraid the party is upstairs and…Master West, is something the matter? You seem quite distraught and your nose seems to be bleeding," Alfred walked into the room with a plate of cookies of some sort.

Wally gave Alfred the most pained look he could muster, "How long has Dick known Artemis?" he covered his face with his hands trying to stop his blood from getting on his _dashing_ suit. This was too much for the speedster. Too much, too soon.

Alfred raised an eyebrow, "If you are referring to Miss Crock, they have known each other for a couple of months," Alfred answered. Wally groaned and threw himself on he floor like the little boy he was. "Would you like some cookies and a tissue for your nose, Lad?" Wally perked up at that park and ran over to where Alfred was. He took a couple cookies and a tissue and made his way back to the party. He couldn't just go MIA because Artemis and Dick were most likely sucking each other's faces off.

_Wonder how far they've gone…_

Wally ended up running into the door at that thought. He never wants to know anything like that. No. Never. Life. Jesus. Agh, he needs to clean his mind. All he can think about now is…shit. He hates being a teenager.

_Get your mind out of the gutter, Wallace. Dick is thirteen, Artemis is fifteen. They wouldn't do anything like…that. Artemis is sick, but not that_ sick_. She likes to kill puppies and people's hopes, but not rape a little boy. Dick wouldn't be willing. No he's a baby. He's Wally's baby. _

He makes his way through the part to find that Artemis and Dick are still holding onto each other as if _they_ were the ones who might end up falling through the floor. Bruce had found the group and forced Dick to talk to one his colleges. The guy had even brought his little kid to the party too. Wally walked up to the group and tried to focus on his cookie and not how Dick probably had herpes now because of Artemis. Frick, Wally was probably gonna get herpes now too—not from making out with Dick, but sharing his water bottle. "—and this is Jack Drake," Bruce finished introducing them.

Wally made his way over to Roy's side. Roy looked like he just got his trachea ripped out. "Dude, you just disappeared and left me alone with the two girls who look like they're gonna jump me and the love _birds_."

"Sorry I just happened to vibrate through the floor in terror."

Roy rolled his eyes, "It takes seeing your best friends making out to get you to vibrate your molecules. Didn't know you were that kinky."

"How'd you explain my disappearance?"

"Told the girls that you had to go take a cold shower."

Jack Drake pulled out the little boy that was holding onto his leg. "This is Tim," the little boy had long black hair and light blue eyes. He looked up and Dick and pulled on his dad's pant leg. Jack bent down and the little boy whispered something in his ear. The man laughed and nodded, and little Timmy Drake went wide-eyed. "You're his role model," Jack said to Dick.

_Wait Dick Grayson or Robin? Cause Dick Grayson isn't _that_ cool. He's just an orphaned circus boy…totally not cool. _

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's been inspired by you ever since he saw you in Haly's Circus," Jack said. Timmy stepped away from his dad and hugged Dick's leg. All of the girls shared a look.

"_Aww!_"

Jack Drake put his hand on Tim's shoulder and pulled him away. "Tim, it looks like Dick has other friends he wants to hang out with. Happy Birthday, Dick."

"Happy Birthday," Timmy muttered and left with his dad.

"I want a kid," Bette muttered. She then raised an eyebrow at Roy, "Wanna go make one?"

Roy just shrugged, "I'm busy." Did he seriously just turn down that hot girl? Wally would give anything to get some action with a hot girl like Bette or Barbara or Artemis—oh wait, he wouldn't want to get with Artemis because she is a whore. Wally doesn't do whores cause they give you herpes. Artemis has herpes cause she is a whore. Did Wally mention Artemis is a whore?

Once the little kid left, they decided to dance. Dick went with Whoretemis, Roy with Bette, and Wally with Barbara. Before they could go out to the dance floor, Wally noticed that Bruce was staring at Artemis and Dick's entwined fingers with a confused look.

Bruce didn't know.

Was Wally's eye twitching again?

_Someone's not going on patrol tonight!_

Bruce was _sooo _gonna tan Dick's hide once this party was over. There was a strict Bat rule of no dating team members, which is why Batman goes for villains like Catwoman and Talia al Ghul. Batman's ethics system is totally in tact and relevant. Dick should try dating some hot baddy like…ummm…Poison Ivy? Is there a female Gotham villain that is Dick's age that he can totally date? Eh, he should just go for Talia al Ghul to piss Bats off. She seems to go for the younger crowd, if you know what he means.

Date a villain, piss off Batman, all in a days work for Dick Grayson.

Wally on the other hand, wasn't as tightly wound by his mentor as Dickie was. Barry let Wally do whatever he wanted as long as it didn't kill him or anyone else. Wally still remembers what Ollie would say to Roy before they would hang out.

_Don't bring her home, don't knock her up, and by far more important, don't wreck the car. _

Perfect parent Ollie was.

Sometime during the dancing, Dick and Artemis disappeared. Now Wally didn't really notice at first because he was busy dancing with the hot redhead. She was actually pretty cool. She may be two years younger, but it was kinda hard to tell. Whenever he was off, she would get on his case—it kind of reminded him of Artemis, but a lot less PMS-y. She was cool. Of course, honor the bro code—was it still active since he was boning Artemis?

_Wonder what Boy Wonder would do if I took his girl while he was preoccupied with Artepuss?_

"Hey Bette? I gotta go, can you tell Dick I said bye and I will be over tomorrow?" Barbara asked when Roy and Bette came over after sharing an apple cider together.

"Duh, I think he went upstairs. Good luck with _business_ and Mommy Dearest," Bette winked at her.

Barbara snorted and hugged them all goodbye. "Hey, can you guys help me find Dick? I know he went upstairs, but this place is a maze," the boys—being very charming young men—agreed to help the damsel. They went up stairs and were met with a fork in the hallway, "I'll go left and you guys go right. Please don't start making out without me boys," she winked and left them.

"That girl is weird," Roy said as they walked down the hallway. "She's obsessed with Robin. She showed me some of the pictures of him on the phone."

That was the moment when Wally's night started going really bad. "Huh, is that Artemis' bow that she was wearing," Wally said picking it up off the floor. It was ripped. The bow had been ripped off. The bow was weird. Artemis had been wearing a black dress with a blue bow.

Who would wear all black with one stripe of blue?

"Is that…shit." On the floor were more articles of clothing including both of their shoes, Dick's suit jacket, and then his shirt—some of the buttons had been ripped off.

He was thirteen—_fourteen_; they aren't supposed to be able to do this now. They weren't doing this. Disgusting. Roy and Wally shared a look. Maybe there was a pool up here and that's why they had suddenly discarded their clothes. You don't go swimming with your clothes on. Yeah that it. They are swimming.

_In each other._

Agh… Wally and Roy followed the trail of clothes until they got to a room. The painting across the door was askew. And on the floor in front of the door was a pair of pants. _Dick's pants. _Oh God. This wasn't happening.

First, he finds out that Artemis knows Dick Grayson.

Then, he finds out that their dating.

Now, he finds out that they are _fucking_ each other.

Yep. Wally is okay with dying right now. Anyone who wants to kill Wally West, please do so now.

A loud bang sounded against the door like Dick had just thrown Artemis against the door while doing the dirty with her.

_"Oh Dick!"_

"I never knew…you liked it rough…"

Okay. Wally was officially in over his head. He was officially done. This wasn't happening. He wasn't here. He didn't hear that. His life was over. He wasn't going to be able to look at anything ever again without hearing that _inhuman_ noise that Artemis was making right now.

"Let's go back to my place and watch _Wonder Pets,_" Roy suggested.

Wally mumbled something incoherent and followed Roy to the nearest Zeta transporter.

Artemis and Dick couldn't stop laughing. They were re-watching the videotapes from the hallway camera Dick had set up to see Roy's and Wally's faces that they made while listening to Artemis and Dick "get it on".

"Please tell me you are making copies of this, Dickie-bird," Artemis laughed.

"Duh. Oh God. This was perfect."

"You smart, beautiful troll, you." Artemis laughed slipping her dress back on. They had got down in their underwear just in the chance that they would actually try and come in. Dick went behind her to help her zip her dress up when he noticed the huge bruise on her shoulder.

"Did I do that when I threw you against the door?" he asked massaging the spot.

"You were just a bit _too _rough."

"Richard John Grayson."

At the door was Bruce Wayne AKA Batman holding Dick's pants in his hand, and he had just caught what looked like Artemis deflowering his little bird. In other words, Artemis is going to be lucky if she was going to be able to survive this day. Artemis made a squeaking noise and tried to zip up the back of her dress. Dick was immobile. This wasn't happening. This _wasn't _happening.

"What is going on here?"

There was an obvious choice for Dick to either tell Bruce the truth that they were playing a joke on Wally and Roy, but that would mean telling him that Artemis knew their secret identities. They could do that, or he could lie and say that they were doing it.

Artemis really hoped that he wasn't going to—

"We didn't go all the way."

The look that Bruce Wayne sent Artemis was enough for her to high tail it out of that room and far away. Well, there goes any hope of getting on Batman's good side.

Bruce looked at his ward, "I thought I said not to get close to her—"

"I tried, and you know how it is. One thing led to another and well…yeah."

"Richard, you know better than that."

"I'm still a ki—_teenager_. I let my emotions get the best of me. You would know all about that."

"What are you implying, young man?"

"I heard that you got with Talia."

"Artemis is a teammate and you could have got her pregnant."

"I told you we didn't go all the way—"

"How far?"

"I'm not going to—"

"Richard."

"Bruce."

"_How far?_ Oral?"

"_Bruce! _I'm going downstairs."

"In your underwear?"

"Anything is better than this!"

"So you guys had oral sex."

"No! Maybe. Yes. Okay. Now can I have my pants back?"

"Does she know of our identities?"

"No, she's about as oblivious as everyone else in the world."

"There's going to be consequences. I am going to inform Oliver Queen of your _interactions _with his protégé."

And there goes any hope of him getting on Green Arrow's good side.

**A/N (Part 2): Just walked past a parking space that said "Reserved for Dick Grayson". Yes. My life is complete.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: You guys are babes. **

**Now, to explain the whole why Dick lied. From what I have read in the comics and seen by watching Batman: the Animated Series, Bruce does not give a flying flip about the Robins love lives (except for when it involves a teammate). Bruce watched Tim Drake (Third Robin) made out with a chick that he just helped break out of prison, and Bruce didn't give him a second glance. (It was in Red Robin). So in that area, I don't think Bruce cares at all, Bruce is known as a playboy and what does he expect for his sons to do? Now when it comes to the whole secret identity stuff, anytime _anyone_ knows who Batman is, he has a heartattack and beats the shit out of them. Now imagine him finding out that Artemis knows. Artemis with her unfortunate background is one reason, but another could be that Artemis could easily be _tortured_ for that information if anyone knew she knew. And if Batman were to find out that someone was suffering because of his secret, it would kill him because he's the Goddamned sensitive Batman. **

**Dick Grayson knows Bruce and knows all of what I said and makes the most logical choice of lying. Bruce would be furious that Dick put Artemis in danger just because of a _prank_. **

**I love explaining stuff. It makes me feel smart. Just a quick thought since this is already a huge authors note, don't Artemis and Damian Wayne seem similar? They both have insecurities and they just want to be accepted by everyone else, but they become a complete ass while trying. Also, last chapter is about as dirty as this story will get. No, there will never be any type of smut. I can't write smut. I'm a prude. The only dirty thing I've been thinking of is a skinny dipping scene. If you guys have any ideas for anything, please submit it. I would love it. SERIOUS CHAPTER WARNING.  
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**And, I give you, the prologue to the Batgirl Arc.  
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Red Head and the Outlaws

Never in a million years would Artemis expect that she would be caught stealing by Robin.

Artemis is gullible.

She was gullible when Wally told her that dinosaurs could be created like in _Jurassic Park_. She was when her sister once promised she would come back. When her dad said that she didn't have to kill anyone during that one mission.

That's why she doesn't really trust a lot anymore.

But when she does…she can get in over her head.

She really shouldn't let herself get talked into these things, but this time it was Barbara. She is more reasonable and logical than Bette, so Artemis gave her a chance. If she gets caught doing this, she was going to make Babs regret this. Major regret.

It had all started on a Saturday evening. Babs, Bette, and Artemis were at the nearest ice cream shop enjoying a milkshake—even though it was quite cold outside. They didn't care. Girls needed their milkshakes to keep working. Artemis, M'gann, and Zantanna liked to go out for milkshakes after missions to spoil themselves. There was an old diner down the street from the mountain that they always went to. They had the best old fashion milkshakes—Artemis preferred malts with extra whip cream, though.

The girls had been trading ideas of how to prank Grayson, which was the more politically correct version of how to refer to little people, and their family issues. A basic conversation for the girls on a Saturday night—it was also Speedy Saturday, so they were wearing their shirts.

"I tried to pitch to my dad that I wanted to do an internship at the police force this summer and he _freaked_. Says that there can only be one member of the family in the police force. Then he called me short," Barbara seethed while scooping off the whip cream of her milkshake and giving it to Artemis.

"At least you're not like me. I'm not going to grow. I've already had my growth spurt and I'm still a midget," Artemis explained, gladly taking the extra whip cream from Babs.

"It's cause you're Asian," Bette smirked taking off her cherry and giving it to Babs.

Artemis rolled her eyes and also gave her cherry to Babs, "Racist."

"I was just listing off a general trait of most Asians that just happens to apply to you," Bette shrugged. "Are you seriously Asian?"

"Seriously? You've met my mom. I'm half Vietnamese, half whatever my Dad is."

"Nice genetics you got there," Barbara teased popping a cherry into her mouth.

"Can you tie the stem in a knot?" Bette asked. Barbara nodded and then held up one finer. _One moment_. She made a couple faces before sticking out her tongue to show that she had tied the stem in a knot. Bette tried next, but only managed to bite her tongue. Artemis tried to do it during the entire conversation.

"So Babs…dish on the whole Mommy-issue thing," Bette eased. There was something about how Bette talked like she obviously wanted to help the person no matter what they were talking about. It was an easy feeling. It was hard not to tell her what was wrong, but she obviously also had her own intents and goals to the person spilling their guts and secrets.

Barbara groaned and rested her chin on her milkshake glass, "She just appears out of nowhere and expects me to be okay with it. She hasn't even told my Dad that she's back. She wants to be my Mom again, but…I don't know. She left my Dad without a word and now…is it wrong not to trust my own Mom? Maybe I'm just paranoid. Dad's having trouble at work now too…"

"She left you, you don't need to trust her. Maybe give her a chance, but if it doesn't feel right then don't," Bette answered taking a finger full of her whip cream and putting it on Babs' nose.

"But she's my _Mom_. She's _family_."

"She's related to you. That doesn't really mean that she's family. Hell, my sister left me when I was eight and we have been at ends every since. She's my sister, _not family_."

That's not how Artemis wants it to be, though. She…God. She hates being the little sister. She hates being the baby of the family. She's the stereotypical little girl that wants her family to be together and be happy. So what if her sister abandoned her? So what if her Dad has killed people and done other horrible things? She wants her family back.

Artemis wasn't a religious person by any means. She didn't go to church; she barely even believed in God, but when she was little she would pray. Maybe it wasn't even directed towards a God or whatever; it was just a way to put her thoughts and hopes together. Her Dad wouldn't come home some nights, and Artemis would pray that he would come home. Not pray that he was safe. Not that he wasn't hurt. She just wanted him _back. _He could be all broken and everything; she just wanted him back.

Was it foolish to want her family back together still?

Artemis just wanted a family. A home.

"I guess that makes sense…" Barbara muttered shoving another spoonful of milkshake into her mouth. "I eat when I'm stressed. I'm gonna get fat."

"Is this an unfortunate time to bring up I can't come tonight?" Bette mumbled with an apologetic smile.

Babs deadpanned. "Are you serious?"

"Hey, why don't I pay for everyone's milkshakes? Be back in a sec," with that, Bette ran from the table.

Barbara groaned and threw her face at the table. "I'm done with my life."

"Oh come on. Don't be dramatic," Artemis finally spit out the untied cherry stem—she would try later. She placed a hand on Babs' shoulder—it was kind of difficult since she was on the other side of the table. Artemis ended up getting cherry syrup on her shirt. This better be comforting and worth it. "I can fill in for Bette for whatever you guys were doing tonight," Artemis offered.

Babs sat up and gave her a skeptical look. "Um…I don't know."

"I guarantee whatever Bette can do, I can do ten times better."

That was a mistake.

"I need help getting something from my Dad's office…"

Artemis went home with Barbara after they finished their milkshakes. Her house was a cozy apartment that her and her Dad lived in. It wasn't very big, but it was bigger than Artemis' apartment; that wasn't saying much, though. Barbara pulled Artemis up into her room. She pulled out some clothes that were similar to the ones that Artemis and Bette had worn when _"Bird Watching"_. They were all black and tight.

"Babs you said we have to get something from your dad's office…" Artemis started.

"I know, I know. The problem is I don't really have his permission, so—"

"We're going to break in," Artemis finished. She couldn't do this. She couldn't. If she got caught doing this, _stealing_, then there was no doubt that Batman was going to pull her off the team. If Green Arrow found out she would no longer go on patrols. Roy would chastise her until the day she died. Her Dad would be glad that's she's finally doing something the _right_ way. Her mom would be upset that she had given in.

Artemis really hopes she doesn't get caught.

Maybe it was because she wanted to help Babs or maybe it was because she wanted some adrenaline, but she put all the consequences aside. Babs obviously has a good reason to be doing this and Artemis is gonna go with it. Or at least try and hope to God that Batman doesn't find out about this. Babs would have a good excuse to why she was breaking into her dad's office, right?

If it came down to it, Artemis was going to throw Barbara under the bus.

She put on the black outfit that just happened to be her size—it was really nice having friends that were the same size as herself. They could easily borrow clothes from each other. Which reminds her, she still has to give Bette her pants back…

"So what are we getting exactly getting?" Artemis asked and put on the scarf. They were literally covered from head to toe in black sneaking garb. If there was one thing Babs was, it was thorough.

She pulled a cap over her bright red hair; a defining characteristic that needed to be covered up. "There's some information in my Dad's computer that I need to get."

"For what?"

"Artemis…" Barbara started. She sighed and covered her face with her hands. "Have you ever felt like you needed to do something…something to prove to someone…or myself?"

Artemis knew the feeling of wanting to prove something to someone. _Oh_, she knew it well.

"Babs, just promise me that this _something_ is a good something."

Babs looked up at her with a smirk, "Oh _it's_ good."

Breaking into the GCPD was not hard at all. Almost everyone—Commissioner Gordon included—in the building was on patrol because of a threat made by Firefly to burn down half the city. Artemis didn't understand arsonist. Sure, fire was pretty and stuff, but it was a bit overkill with burning down a huge building. They should just settle for a gas-stove top like she does.

That's how she makes smores.

Artemis doesn't like how campfires dry out her skin if she sits there long enough—it is always long enough cause Kid Only-You-Can-Prevent-Forest-Fires insists that the fire is died down before the Team starts roasting. It takes _forever_ and Artemis just can't deal with that. So, she stays inside, makes her smores, burns off all the hairs on her arms, and gains about three pounds from eating the whole bag of marshmallows before Kid Gluttony could get his hands on it. Sometimes Wally tries to steal her smores, so she burns him with her roaster. Then, he usually complains about how she only hurts him, so she burns Robin.

It's a win-win situation.

Where was Artemis? Oh yeah, she was in the police force's commissioner's office with his daughter while she was currently hacking into his computer. It was normal Saturday for Artemis. She was standing guard at the window while Barbara downloaded the files to whatever she needed.

Why was Artemis doing this?

"Did you know that the whole police force would be gone?" Artemis asked.

Barbara let out a snorty laugh, "Who do you think sent in the anonymous tip?"

"How'd you now?"

"I picked up on my Dad's detective-ing and figured out from some info I retrieved after…_listening _in on some conversations between a couple of thugs," Barbara answered like it was the plainest answer in the world, which it would be to Artemis. But for Barbara to say that so _nonchalantly_ was just weird. She almost sounded like she was apart of Artemis' _other_ life—you know, the one where she beats the crap out of bad guys and then Batman gives her Batcookies and praises her for a job well done. Okay, maybe the second part was a lie, but a girl can hope. Dream. Wish.

"B, what are you exactly trying to prove?"

Barbara sighed, "Oedipus…I—I'm done. Let's get out of here," she pulled out her USB and stuffed it in her pocket. "I coded the system I hacked it with to make it seem like it was from Batman. Dad won't push too much if he thinks his _friend_ did this," Barbara explained with a smirk. Barbara had, once again, thought of everything. The girl was thorough.

Artemis went and opened the window and slipped out. Barbara followed behind her, "As long as we can get out we will be good."

"I think you girls are anything, _but_ good."

Oh _shit_.

Artemis slowly turned around to see Robin perched on the fire escape. Artemis tried to think. Maybe she could explain why she did this. Maybe she could explain this was a miss understanding. Maybe she could say that they were just playing a joke on Babs' dad. Maybe she could just push him off the edge and hope he doesn't splatter on the pavement.

None of the options seemed good enough.

Barbara, on the other hand, was already prepared for this confrontation. "We were just leaving a present for the commish, okay?" Barbara was smart. She wasn't acting like herself, and she disguised her voice in coy tone. It was a good thing, too. If she had used her normal voice then Dick would have recognized it, and well, that would be _bad._

Yes, it was bothering Artemis how _easy_ this was coming to Babs.

Artemis felt something slip into her hands from Barbara. At first, Artemis assumed it was USB and Barbara wanted her to make a run for it. Then, Artemis realized how pointy it was.

Artemis remembered what it was then.

Barbara was smart enough to give the dart to Artemis because Artemis had quicker reflexes and better aim than herself. Barbara already had this all planned out with every situation considered and how to approach them. Babs wasn't just smart; she was _really_ smart.

With a flick of the wrist Artemis flung the dart at Robin, and with a stroke of luck, it hit right on the spot—the crook of his neck. The poison was going to take effect almost immediately. Artemis reached out and grabbed the boy before he could fall backwards off the fence. She placed him in the commissioner's office because when it came down to it, Artemis really did care about Robin. Leaving him out in the cold without him moving to produce body heat would be a disaster.

Babs jumped into the office and dug around in her Dad's desk. She pulled out a bow and put it on the sleeping Robin's head. "Nice present, huh?" Babs smirked.

Artemis looked at her deadpanned. "You had this planned from the start."

Barbara gave her a smile, "Nah, I'm just really good at improvising."

**A/N: Here's your (replacement) video, you reviewers.  
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http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=bP6xRbAWwPo


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey guys... so my friend totally came up to me and whispered three words in my ear containing the most mind altering thing I have ever heard. (It was a spoiler, so I can't put it) But you guys are gonna LOVE it (after you get over being pissed). In other things, Batgirl has been confirmed for Season 2. I think I saw that they put her in something similar to Steph's costume with the Bat symbol being purple. So totes. Next chappy's gonna be a funny-lovely chapter about Artemis' fear of caves. Then, we continue with Batgirl Arc. And yes, Cosmic-Surge this is gonna take references from _Batgirl: Year One_ and Batman: the Animated Series origin of Batgirl. Everything about the poison and darts will be explained...next chapter. LOL PAZ IS SUCH A TEASE! So like review and I will give you a free Roy. **

"Tag"

Her name was Artemis. She went by Artemis in pretty much every aspect of her life. There is no variation in her name, so why did Green Arrow forget? She would have been fine—well, it would have been _tolerable_—if it had been anyone else, but it was Green Arrow, her mentor.

He had called her Speedy, _again_.

She probably would get over that. It was just a slip of the tongue—a horrible, stupid slip. She would forgive him. Well, she would forgive him if it weren't for the fact that it happened every single time she went out on patrol with him. It was always the same '_Speedy! Cover me!' _or '_Speedy, you got any arrows left?'_ Her name was _Artemis_. Even when he didn't call her Speedy, he would call her some other pet name like saying _Artemis _was too damn hard.

Then, she found out that he goes out on patrol with Red Arrow almost every night! Even the nights when he says he won't need Artemis' help, Roy would be with him.

Was this Artemis being _jealous_?

Her mentor was no longer being her mentor. Was it a sharing issue? Her and Jade never were good at sharing. She wanted to scream about all the issues she was having right now, but that would wake her Mom—her Mom hadn't been sleeping well these past couple days. Yesterday, Green Arrow had refused to let her go out on patrol, and _ugh!_ She hadn't been on patrol this whole week. This wasn't fair.

"Not feeling the aster, Crockpot?"

She dug her face out of the pillow to glare at the boy sitting in her window. She said something quite violent and full of profanities, but the pillow canceled it out. He noticed her irritation and jumped down into her room. Without even consulting her or anything, he sat on top of her back. "What's up, baby archer?"

"Nothing," she grumbled, digging her face even more into the pillow.

He snorted and adjusted himself so he wouldn't fall off from Artemis shaking. "Mmmhmm. You're lying. Red Arrow says that you refuse to go out on patrol with GA," Robin said.

Of course Red Arrow was running around telling everyone about the Arrow Clan's personal issues. She snorted, "I've only refused yesterday. The other days he wouldn't let me go out on patrol with him."

"Everything not peachy between the _niece _and _uncle_?"

"No I—get off of me. You're fat is going to break my spine." She felt him shift until he was lying on top of her—back to back. "That's not getting off."

She felt him shrug. "Maybe, but I'm distributing my weight. Wouldn't want to hurt you." His hands reached around and grabbed her hair to play with it. "Do you think I could fit in your hair?" he mumbled. She didn't know _exactly_ what he was doing with her hair, but frankly, she might not want to know. He was probably sniffing it or something creepy. Maybe stealing her hair, so he can clone her.

When she didn't respond, he tried again. "Artemis, what's wrong? You haven't been to the mountain in a week either." Artemis sighed. He was right; she hadn't been to the mountain in the week.

Her Mom was, well, _sick_.

She tried to tell herself that it was just a cold, but every time she heard her Mom cough she could hear the throaty-ness of it that suggested a more serious issue. It was probably pneumonia. Artemis can't tell you how many hours she has spent on the Internet searching to see what her mom could possibly have—according to the Internet, her mom had prostate cancer and angle closure glaucoma. She would go to the health food store to pick up different herbs that were supposed to help with illness, and then she would stop at the local pharmacy to pick up some over the counter meds with what spare her and her mom had. She was doing everything she could to make sure her Mom was going to be okay.

Was her Mom going to be okay?

Then there was the whole her always being the second choice. Second choice for Green Arrow, second choice for the Team. She was always second to Roy. There was nothing that she could do to change that. Maybe she could just give up being an archer, try something new. There was no feeling like the one when she would release an arrow form her bow, but maybe she needs to prove to the Team that, that isn't the only thing she can do.

Yeah, but what is she going to do? If she tried to work out of Gotham, she would end up getting on Bats bad side, and well, you don't want to get on Batman's bad side. Or, Batman would try and adopt her into the family. Heck, if her Mom died, she would fit the requirements of being adopted by him.

Was it too soon to be making dead parent and orphan jokes?

Artemis groaned again.

"You know, if you keep this up Bats is going to think you're pregnant," Robin laughed, but suddenly stopped and muttered something about Artemis hair in his mouth.

"I'll make a point to go to the cave in a crop top next week to show off my totally non-existent baby bump."

"Not funny. Bats will kill me, not to mention Green Arrow. You didn't have to get a talk from _both _of them about how relationships and the team don't work."

"Oh, GA talked to me. It was _sooooo_ awkward."

It had been last week. It was after patrol and she had went back to Ollie's house to have some hot chocolate and dress a wound on her lower calf. He had approached her with the most flustered expression, and tried to talk to her.

"_Uh, so I heard from a…uh…colleague of mine that…you and his son did inappropriate things together. I, uh, don't want to get involved in you're personal affairs and such, but, uh, please. I promised your mom I wouldn't let anything…uhm…bad happen to you. You getting pregnant or something, uh, unfortunate like that—not that babies are bad and such, but you're young and it, uh, wouldn't be, um, pleasant. What kind of mentor would I be if you got AIDS? So, uh, yeah. I don't want to life coach you or anything, but, uh, yeah. Be careful."_ He had been so flustered the entire time. If Artemis hadn't been embarrassed herself, she would have laughed. Green Arrow looked like he was going to burst out crying. He threw himself into the couch and covered his face, _"I promised your mom! She's going to kill me! Oh Artemis, don't get pregnant. Please. Don't."_

Of course, Black Canary came out and busted out laughed. _"This is why I gave Roy all the important talks."_

"You didn't have Batman ask you how far," Robin snorted.

"You win."

"Oh, and Green Arrow made _Roy_ cuss me out about me and you, so yeah. You got the better end of _ceptional_ stick." They lay there for a bit—back to back. He was still playing with her hair until he finally decided to break the silence. "You wanna go on patrol with me? Bats is out on League business," he offered.

"Sure, if I can get your fat butt off of me." He rolled off of her and then she rolled on top of him. He immediately started to protest. "You know what," she smirked deviously, "I think I'm just gonna sleep instead." She trapped him on the bed, sandwiching him between her, the wall, and the bed.

"_Artemis!"_ he whined. "Gotham needs me."

Artemis snorted, "Gotham needs _Batman_, not some cute, hormonal, preteen, little boy running around in tights."

"Not cool."

"Poor, little, rich boy."

Finally, Robin couldn't take it anymore and he pushed Artemis off of him and onto the floor. She resisted the urge to rub her butt because she had landed right on one of her text books and lets just say it was not exactly _comfortable._ He jumped off of her bed and landed in front of her. He just smirked down at her. "So you coming or not?"

She rolled her eyes and got up on her own. "Yeah, give me a second to change into my uniform." She waited for a second for him to get out of her room, but he just stood there. "Go on."

He gave her a little innocent expression. "But I thought we were boyfriend and girlfriend. It's not like I haven't seen it before," he waggled his eyebrows at her. Her expression didn't falter. He threw both of his hands up, "Sorry, just joking."

Robin jumped through her window and he muttered something about Wally being right about girls PMSing. She closed the blinds. "Good luck next time, suave wonder." She quickly changed into her costume and jumped outside to join Robin outside. He was perched on her fire escape ledge. "Tag to stretch?" she asked.

He didn't even say anything—he just used her shoulders to spring himself up to the next level of the fire escape. Artemis sighed, and joined him on their little game. It wasn't really that hard to keep up with Robin; it was the actual part of catching him that she had trouble with. The boy was a sleuth. No matter how close she got to him, he would manage to slip away at the last moment and evade capture.

They did stop a couple times and stop a couple of robberies and muggings—a lot of the _big_ Gotham crazies were looked up in Arkham. That was probably why Batman felt so okay with leaving Robin—and the fact that there were always others at arms reach for the baby bird to call for.

Artemis was going to try and cut off Robin at the next turn up ahead to catch him, so she jumped down in the alleyway.

The last thing she was expecting was a girl dressed in a Batman costume.

Well, to be fair, the costume was way more feminine than Batman's—more fitted, less extras bulk. It was skin tight to the girl—there was obviously some sort of padding underneath. A bright yellow Bat sigma was displayed on her chest and she had on a yellow utility belt as well. There was a hole in her cowl where her red hair flowed out. There were two thugs at her feet, and she had a trash can top in her hand. Artemis unclipped her bow and aimed it at the girl. "Halloween's long past, kiddo," she said.

The lenses of the girl's costume visibly widened, "_Artemis_?"

Artemis froze. That voice…it sounded so familiar. And how did this chick know who she was; Artemis was apart of a _covert _team. People weren't supposed to know about her—well, people in Star City probably know since she has been spotted on patrol a couple times. A person in Gotham should not be able to know who she is. "Who are you?"

Her hand reached up to take off the cowl, "Artemis it's—" she was cut off by the Boy Wonder landing next to Artemis.

The lenses of his mask went wide. "Who are you?"

The girl was obviously not okay with Robin, but that's not what really shocked Artemis. The girl was about to take off her cowl—_expose_ herself to Artemis. Why? "Uh," the girl changed her voice, "Catch ya later?" she did a little salute and started to run down the alleyway—of course, not without tipping the trashcans over on her way.

Her and Robin shared a look. "Did Bats make another adoption?" she asked.

"Not that I know of. We have to catch her; Batman doesn't like new people in his city, even if she is just a kid." With that Robin took down the alleyway after the new girl. Artemis ran right next to him. They were both about to jump over when the girl—should she refer to her as Batgirl?—turned around and whipped the trashcan top in their direction. Artemis really should have seen that coming.

In most instances she would have been able to dodge it, but she was jumping over the trashcans and well, she wasn't exactly good at changing directions in midair. Thankfully, Robin was more capable of doing that kind of stuff. His hand shot out in front of Artemis to catch the lid, but only managed to barely blunt it before it hit Artemis in the gut. It knocked the breath out of Artemis. They both fell to the ground.

Robin got up the fastest; one of his hands was clutched to his chest while the other was outstretched to help Artemis up. He helped her up. "You okay?"

She grunted, "I think I lost our baby."

He rolled his eyes—she knew he was; Robin had gotten so sassy lately. "Shut it, baby archer. We need to figure out who this Batgirl is and get her off the streets."

Artemis had a sinking feeling about this, like they were getting in way over their heads in this situation. It shouldn't be hard; she was just a girl, but Artemis…the voice…Batgirl recognizing her…the red hair…the whole situation last month…

Artemis needed to have a conversation with Barbara Gordon.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: "Hi, I'm Roy "The Mole" Harper and I was such a good of mole that not only did I trick the entire Justice league and the Team, but myself. **

**God. I love Roy. I love my baby. Surprisingly, he's my fav character. Ugh, I will talk to you guys about my FEELS after the next episode. If anyone would like to PM me to just let me rant about all my emotions (without spoilers) please do. I'm pissed that they threw away the opportunity with Sportsmaster/Artemis relationship. The Jade/Artemis relationship doesn't make sense for various reasons. I could write an entire essay about it. Instead, I'll just have an excerpt about it in here. If anyone wants to know about the whole poison dart thingy, just say so. I don't know how to fit it in. Ugh. Emotions. Sorry this chapter is not a funny one. It's more setting up. So review and you will get a complimentary Roy "The Mole" Harper.  
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Hypocrite

This situation feels remarkably similar to one she had had a long time ago. Artemis felt like a little girl again, with her father scolding her. Except for, well, her dad wasn't Batman. Her Dad wasn't anything _close_ to Batman, but that didn't stop that guilty feeling tingling in the base of her spine making her want to back into a corner. Batman asked about Batgirl—it was too similar to when her own Dad had asked her about Jade.

Artemis remembers her Dad coming in a day after Jade had left. Her Dad must have had a long job or something because he didn't get back until the next night. Artemis wasn't really that skilled in any type of cooking, so she tried making herself macaroni—extra incase her Dad, or even Jade, were to come home. Her Dad came bustling in and threw his duffle bag against the wall and went over to where Artemis was making her own dinner. Lawrence Crock frowned at her, "Baby girl, you know your not allowed to be around boiling water. You'll melt your skin off. Where's Jade? She's supposed to cook."

When Artemis didn't say anything and just clutched onto the dripping spatula in her hand. Lawrence lifted up his daughter and placed her onto the counter—of course after turning off the pasta, which was burnt on the bottom.

"What happened, baby girl?"

Artemis didn't answer him or look at him. She just crossed her arms and pouted. Once again, Lawrence was almost _proud_ of how much she looked like him instead of her mother—and it wasn't just the blonde hair or the darkening blue eyes. Her face shape was similar to his even though it still held a lot of baby fat making her cheeks puff out like a hamster. Still underneath all of that baby fat he could see her high cheekbones that the Crock family was notorious for having.

She also had the notorious Crock angst.

Her Dad sighed and looked around the room—no doubt he was looking for signs if there had been an altercation…he couldn't have another family member in the hospital.

"Jade told me that in this family it's everyone for themselves, and that mom wasn't coming back," Artemis muttered out in the squeaky, rough voice that her, her mother, and her sister all had.

"Artemis, if you're going to talk—"

"Speak loudly and clearly if you wanna be heard, and if you don't, might as well not talk at all. _I know_, Dad," Artemis rolled her eyes.

And there was the infamous Crock sass.

"Where's Jade?" he asked, his voice was demanding and serious.

Artemis looked away and fiddled with the spatula in her hands. She picked off a piece of macaroni off the spatula and ate it. Now, she remembered how bad raw pasta tasted—especially burnt pasta. "She's gone."

Artemis noticed the pained look on his face.

_Gone._

The word echoed in Lawrence Crock's mind. He had managed to let his family fall apart within a weeks time span. It hadn't even been a _week_ since his wife had taken the fall—in more than one way—for their last heist. He was supposed to be keeping this family together for his wife, and here he was, already with one daughter gone and the other trying to cook her own food. He had left her _alone_—he should be glad that nothing else had happened to her especially since they live in a city like Gotham. Artemis was only eight. Artemis…

Lawrence Crock was supposed to be taking care of his family and he couldn't even last a week. He couldn't keep his family together like his wife would have wanted. Paula was gone…Jade was gone… He couldn't lose Artemis. Artemis was _his_ daughter. She was his only family left.

Artemis was still bristled. "Then, she said that she would take me with her, but I'm not strong enough. What's that supposed to mean? Just cause I'm young doesn't mean I'm not strong." Her knuckles turned white as she gripped hard onto the spatula.

"Do you know _exactly _where Jade went?" he asked.

He saw the look in her eyes. He had never been the best at reading people, but Artemis was a poor enough liar and his daughter that he could almost always tell what she was thinking. Her eyes went wide as if she were trying to remember every tiny bit of the conversation she had had with her sister. Artemis suddenly closed her eyes and pulled her legs onto the counter and curled into a tiny ball.

"Dad, I don't want to be weak anymore. Can you make me strong?"

Artemis wasn't _necessarily_ good at lying, but she was as sure as hell good at distracting. She learned from an early age that changing the topic worked just as well as lying. And that's what she always would do to her Dad. It worked better than she could have ever hoped for. It's what she's good at. It's what saved her from ever telling her Dad that she _knew_ that Jade had went to go join the Shadows—specifically join the ranks of Talia al Ghul's personal guard.

Except…distracting doesn't really work on _the_ Batman.

"Batgirl is not a benefit to Gotham—if anything, she is a liability. She appears to have minimal to no training and we can't let her continue these escapades on the streets of Gotham. Robin has informed me that both of you ended up running into her on patrol. He informed me that you ran into her first, what happened?" Batman asked.

Honestly, Artemis wished that she were with her Dad rather than Batman. He could probably tell if she was lying about whether she had eggs for breakfast or not. He's the world's best detective. He can figure out anything from the tiniest bit of info.

How the _hell_ was Artemis going to weasel her way out of this without revealing that she sorta-kinda has a theory about Batgirl already?

She was screwed.

"Well, Robin and I had been running across the roofs, and we had just got a notification of a robbery. I thought that taking a cut through the alleyway would be faster, so I jumped down and well, there was a girl dressed like you. It looked like she had stopped a mugging or something. She kinda just stared at me, and well, I know you don't really like other vigilantes on the streets, so I tried to talk to her—it didn't really work. Then, Robin jumped down and he scared her off, so she tried to make a run. We tried to follow, but as he probably told you, she chucked a trash can lid at us and sprained his wrist and gave me a nasty bruise," Artemis explained hoping that she didn't seem too frantic.

So she left out Batgirl almost pulling off her cowl.

She left out the voice change.

She left out that Batgirl _recognized_ Artemis.

She left out her suspicions.

So let's see what Batman caught.

"Why were you on patrol with Robin?"

…okay. Not the first question that comes to mind, but it's Batman, and his baby bird always comes first… "Artemis hadn't been on patrol for a week," Robin picked up for her effortlessly. "Nor has she been hanging out with the Team, so I convinced her to go on patrol with me to try and distract her from her issues. So would _tracted_ mean to like pay attention, if distracted means to not pay attention?" Robin mused.

Batman's lenses narrowed, "There was a reason why I asked that question to Artemis. I wanted to see if your stories lined up."

So maybe Artemis was still not on Batman's good side because of the whole deflowering-his-little-baby-birdy thing. Was that really a reason to not trust her? "Like he said. I've been distant with everyone this whole week, so he came to my room to convince me to stop wallowing in self pity."

"He went into your room?"

Okay, maybe Artemis should just, like, _not talk_. She was pretty sure that she just earned Robin another talk when he got home, and from the look that Robin had on his face, he knew it too. "That's not the point here," Robin interrupted before anything else could get out of hand—or he was just doing it so Artemis wouldn't be able to talk. "We have no clue about Batgirl, so we need to go do something about it. Otherwise, she's gonna end up being one of those kids that a school cries about for a month because she's _dead_."

Artemis raised an eyebrow at Robin. Maybe she wasn't the only one who had caught onto Batgirl. "Do you know who she is, Robin?" Batman asked. He had obviously also caught onto the sudden change of heart.

"No, I just…she can't be that much older than me Batman. She's too young." There was a weird silent conversation that went between the two. Artemis wished she could have some sort connection with, well, anyone.

"You two are dismissed," Batman said. No one moved at first, but Artemis wasn't really too keen about the whole Bat vs. Bird stare-off, so she move for the zeta tubes.

That left Artemis with some _business _to deal with.

Honestly, Artemis didn't know what she was going to say to Babs. It wasn't like she could just come out and say _You're Batgirl, don't do it_ and expect everything to be fine. What if Artemis was completely wrong? It would look really bad and there would probably be a lot of explaining and running on Artemis' part. It wasn't that late in the day, so Barbara should be home still unless she was out with Bette somewhere. God, she hoped Babs was home…

She knocked on the door waiting. There were a rush of footsteps on the other side of the door before it swung open. Babs stood on the other side with her hair in a mess on top of her head, and she looked like she hadn't slept in a while. Yep, definitely the signs of a vigilante life.

"Artemis!" Barbara breathed in a sigh of relief. The red head grasped onto Artemis' wrists and pulled her into the house without warning. There was definitely something going on. Barbara only got frazzled when some serious stuff was going on. "You want hot chocolate? Oh, whom am I kidding—you _always_ want hot chocolate." She dragged Artemis to the kitchen, keeping a death grip on Artemis' wrist. "You like milk, right?" Artemis nodded and watched Babs make hot chocolate for both of them.

Barbara was a really calm and collected person, so it must have been something serious to be eating away at her like this to make her so _spastic_. It was weird. Bette was supposed to be the spastic friend. Babs gave Artemis her hot chocolate while she sipped at her own.

Artemis wasn't even able to gulp down her hot chocolate before Babs decided to interrupt her, "So what's like your superhero name?"

Artemis nearly choked on her hot chocolate—instead she just burnt some of her lungs. "_What_?"

"Are you supposed to be like Speedy 2.0 or Arrowgirl or like Arrowette?" the way Babs was just talking about this _so_ nonchalantly was just almost too much like Robin.

Don't even get her started on how Robin was so nonchalant about awkward things.

"What do you mean?"

Babs rolled her eyes, "I'm not an idiot, Artemis. I could recognize that fluff of hair from a mile away. What's you name?"

"Artemis."

"Seriously, Artemis, I don't need your sass…" Babs blinked for a second as if she just realized, "You're kidding. Your super hero identity is the _same_ as your real name?"

"Well at least I'm not a copycat, _Batgirl_."

"Uh huh, you might as be called baby Green Arrow."

There was a silence because both of them had just realized what they had just done. They had just revealed both of their secret identities in a matter of five seconds. "So you're Batgirl?"

Babs looked down and nodded, "Yeah…wait, you're _Artemis_? As in Green Arrow's new protégé? And you were fighting crime here with Robin? You _know_ Robin? Oh god…all of the stuff that Bette has said about him…" the girl noticeably paled—then flushed a bit, "You don't, like, tell him about the stuff we say about him? Like what Bette said she'd like to do if she…um…"

Artemis snorted out a laughed, "Oh God no. Bette is…a bit extreme." She paused for a second. She wanted so badly to have someone where she could just talk about all this stuff in unison. She could talk to Zantanna about superhero-ing stuff and all, but there was always a line that she couldn't expand over because it gave off too many hints about her normal life. Then, she could always talk to Bette about her _normal_ life, but there was only a point to she could discus it before it encroaching on her hero life. Of course, Dick knew about both worlds, but lets be honest.

There was no way in _hell_ she was going to talk to Robin about boys and her girl problems.

Artemis really didn't want to do this.

_You could just be selfish..._

"Babs, I didn't come over here just to talk. Batman doesn't want you being Batgirl—"

Before Artemis could even finish, Babs interrupted her, "Why do you get to be Artemis then? And you think I care what Batman thinks?"

"You should because this is his city."

"When did Gotham become _Batman's_ city? Did you know that _before_ Batman that this city was run by a group of assassins called the _Court of Owls_?"

"I didn't really ever study Gotham history, but—"

"See that's the point! No one knows anything except for Batman and that's why he thinks he can just run the place. If someone else were to try and actually _learn_ like he did, then maybe they could also be in the same respect as Batman, but no one tries to," Barbara seethed. It was the first time in a long time that she has seen _anyone_ be so passionate about something—specifically, fighting crime and proving a point.

"What do you mean by _learn_?"

Barbara raised an eyebrow and grabbed Artemis' arm. "I'll show you." Babs dragged Artemis to her room. The red head took her nightstand and lifted it up like she was about to bash Artemis over the head with it.

The nightstand was hollow though—it was a cover for what was underneath.

The computer was about as old as the computers that had been at Gotham North. The thing was probably a dinosaur. Salvaged with dinosaur DNA. You know, the works. The box computer was humming slightly as Babs sat down in front of it. She patted the ground next to her.

Artemis sat down next to her. The computer was running a program that looked like Barbara had crudely made. On the screen was lists of names and a paragraph contain information about each person. Information that shouldn't be available to a thirteen year-old girl. Information that shouldn't even is available to the police. This would have had to be done with years of hands on research. Barbara slowly scrolled to the top of the page. The page was labeled _Court of Owls-Talons. _

"I started doing this to spite my Dad, Artemis. He didn't want me to become a police officer, so I chose to mock or become his favorite thing in the world. It was just to rub it in his face first. Then…you know how it is. I took down a couple muggings and it was the most exhilarating thing I had ever done. I wanted to do it again and again. But I realized after getting my wrist broken that I needed to train. I first reached out to Black Canary to ask for help…" she sighed. "Probably just thought it was fan-mail or something. So I took matters into my own hands.

"Dad had always had me enrolled in many self defense classes and it wasn't hard turning some of those self defense moves into offensive ones. It's a lot of fun working gymnastic moves into the mix," she grinned and bit her lip like she was remember a time where she bashed someone's face in. "Then, I realized that maybe I should be informed about stuff that was going around in Gotham and everywhere else. That's when I started researching and stealing information about people from about any source I could find. That's what this computer is for. It is probably nowhere as big as Batman's computer, but I get by, by what it has on it. It's been enough for the jobs I have done.

"I took the time to learn, Artemis. I'm not just jumping into this world blindly. I want to do this so bad. I may have not had a member of the Justice League train me, but I trained myself and well…I did a pretty good job. I'm still learning, but I've gotten way better.

"Artemis, I told you this because I trust you, not because I want you to run and tell Batman and defend me. I trust you. Yeah, it's an idiot move because we've only known each other for like a couple months, but I trust you. Bette trusts you, too. It's the reason I took you to get some more info from my dad's computer. I trust you."

The two of them sat there. Babs' legs were tucked underneath her chin as she talked. "Thanks Babs," Artemis smiled.

Babs smiled, "No problem, Artemis. Sorry for ranting, I just—I don't know. I need to do this."

Artemis sighed, _fuck this, sorry Bats, but I need a friend_. "Then do it."

Barbara's eyes widened, "What?"

"Batman's a control freak anyway. I can tell him that I couldn't convince you to step down or something like that," Artemis shrugged. "Just be careful. Um…"

Oh God. She was going to regret this.

"You can go out on patrol with me."

Shit. Batman was going to kill her.

"It would be better if you went out on patrol with me, actually."

_Artemis, shut up, stop being a whore, and learn that your mouth needs to stay closed. You're being selfish. _

Barbara was almost beaming, "Are you serious?"

_Unfortunately._ "Yeah, just—"

"What's your comm. link?" she asked.

Artemis raised an eyebrow, but gave the girl her comm. number. Why would the girl have a comm. link? They talked for a little bit longer before Artemis had to go back to the mountain. They had an early mission tomorrow and she was going to be sleeping at the mountain. That and Artemis had promised M'gann that she could braid Artemis' hair and that was probably going to take a while.

When she got to the mountain, she thought over what she was going to say to Batman about Batgirl over and over again. God. She wasn't going to be able to get out of this one. Artemis was being selfish.

"—yeah, I talked to Batgirl, but she wasn't going to budge on the issue. I tried, but I couldn't even get under her skin. She would barely even talk to me," Artemis hear Robin say from the mission debriefing room. Artemis walked in there.

Robin was talking to Batman, but about Batgirl. Artemis had been with Batgirl all night, there was no way that he could have talked to her. "What's up?" she asked.

"When I was out tonight, I ran into Batgirl, but I couldn't get her to budge on giving up the cowl."

Huh. He was either lying about talking to Batgirl or…the reason why Babs had a comm. link…

There were _two _Batgirls.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Holy baby cat. Did you guys see the previews? (oh yeah, and the season finale _ROOOOOOY_). I want Tim Drake to be Red Robin and run his own team _sooooooooo _bad. I don't want that to be Dick. I want Tim. NOW. Don't get me wrong. I want Dick to stay Robin, but Tim as Red Robin, skipping the Robin persona. Holy chinchilla. The Time Skip theory. I believe it will happen halfway through the season because you guys saw Babs being way older, too? Same with Gar. And *smashes face against computer* I love Tim. I want Tim as Red Robin. You know what? I ship Robin/Cassie. Wonderbird. I ship Wonderbird. Everyone thinks that Wondergirl and Superboy will get together, but I want Robin/Cassie. Let's make it a thing. Wonderbird. SPREAD THE WORD.  
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**Sorry for the spaz. Um, I don't usually do this, but thank you Zendeh Zee. Like a lot. That huge review was adorkable. I'm glad you love me because I love you. Your review made my day if not week. It was so detailed and sincere, and slightly creepy, but I like that. I actually do have a Tumblr that I never use. Ever. Cause I'm like Tumblr illiterate. I'm PinkFlyingBunny. BTWs (SELF ENDORSEMENT FOLLOW MEE...)  
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**BTW, this is Bette as Batgirl, and you know how Bette gets around Robin...  
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Following

Robin was tailing Batgirl.

So in retrospect it was an okay thing because Batman had told him to do it, initially at least. Now he's just interested in whom this chick actually is. Why would she just start fighting crime? How she was actually prepared? Who had trained her? Who she is?

And he might be interested in following her because she had kissed him.

Robin will swear on the holy Batbible that he did nothing to provoke her. It was out of the blue and he had no idea it was coming. It wasn't like he kissed her or anything, or lead her on or anything, it just…_happened_. The entire second that it happened, he was praying to every God he could think of that Batman wouldn't happen to stumble upon the roof.

It was simple. He was following her while she went out on "patrol" and making sure she didn't get herself killed while trying to convince her to get off the streets. They bantered back and forth quite a bit. She was obviously not liking him at all, so it nearly scared the crap out of him that she just all of the sudden kissed him. He thought she was planting a chip on him or something. Maybe poison him with herpes.

He was clean. He had Alfred check him when he got home.

Whoever this Batgirl was, she was going to give him a heart attack.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Batman wasn't breathing down his neck every second. Something about this whole Batgirl situation had his panties in a twist—well, more so than usual. It was irritating for the Boy Wonder.

Robin was perched above as he watched Batgirl stop a third mugging. At least Gotham never ran out of crimes to stop. She moved very fluidly. Every move seemed to be connected to a move after it. She elbowed one guy in the face then ducked and did a twist move to twirl around another guy. She shoved the second guy into the first guy. They both hit the wall hard and fell slump against the ground.

Robin decided it was time to make himself known.

He jumped down next to Batgirl as she was tying up the muggers. She had already told the guy who had been getting hugged to call the police. She knew what to do, but where did she learn how to do all this stuff? Something just isn't adding up.

"You come to check up on me again?" Batgirl asked. Her voice was coy as she straightened herself up and faced Robin.

"Like you don't like it," Robin replied. He could almost see the shift in her cowl from her rolling her eyes. Sassy Batgirl. She walked right past him—making sure to bump into his shoulder on the way. Without glancing back at him, she continued on and used the trashcans in the alleyway to boost herself up to the fire escape and flipped up the escape until she was at the top.

Robin—of course, only for studious reasons—followed her. "In your dreams, Boy Wonder," she called.

"What?" he asked, following right behind her.

"Your gonna ask me to take off the cowl and give up my life of being a badass, which I'm not gonna do," Batgirl's red hair basically billowed out behind her. It couldn't be easy to fight crime with long hair that isn't tied back. Robin doesn't understand how Zantanna with her long, black—_flowing, luscious, impermeable_—hair doesn't get in the way of her crime fighting. She must know some super, awesome hair defying gravity spell. _Yats ni ecalp riah. _That doesn't really explain how Artemis and M'gann survive with long hair.

Well, he's seen Artemis and the _downfall_ of long hair.

Wally once tried to grab her bow off of her back once; he grabbed her hair at yanked it at the speed of sound. The whole hair and gymnastics thing has had _some_ problems. There was that one time when Robin accidentally cut off some of her hair when he was throwing a Batarang—_oh, _sorry_ for not considering the extreme volume of your hair, Artemis._ Then there was that whole incident with Bette trying to French braid Artemis' hair—it didn't turn out well to say the least. There was also that one time with Artemis' hair got caught in Robin's motorcycle—why she was riding it was a _whole_ other story. Wally once tried to move the couch while Artemis was asleep on it; he eventually gave up, but not after he _unknowingly_ put the couch on her hair—Robin's just glad that the team doesn't know Vietnamese.

Yeah, long hair was not really prudent.

Especially if it is like ten feet long like you're trying to challenge Rapunzel.

And if your name is Artemis Crock.

_Especially _if your name is Artemis Crock.

"I'm not gonna ask you to take the cowl off."

That stopped Batgirl in her tracks. She nearly hit Robin in the gut when she turned around—he wasn't sure if it was intentional or not. "Uh huh, and _I'm_ not gonna ask you to take off your pants."

Her retort made Robin blush a little. He shook it away though; he did _not_ like Batgirl. That was like a _no-no_ in the Batbible—which as he has mentioned before—he follows quite closely. "I'm just gonna ask you to tell me your secret identity—"

She snorted and got really close until it was lens to lens. Robin really wished that he could yank off the cowl and find out who she really was. He had some theories, but there was nothing to back any of them up. He had checked out every red head in Gotham and pretty much none of them fit the bill. "An eye for an eye then? You tell me your identity and I will tell you mine," she offered.

Robin narrowed his eyes, "No deal."

"This isn't a game show."

"Do you want it to be?"

"Only if I get a million dollars."

"I don't think it's that straightforward."

"Hmmm…then go find some other chick to bug, Boy Flounder," Batgirl smirked and turned around and started running from rooftop to rooftop. He was going on patrol with _Batgirl_.

This must be against one of the commandment of the Batbible.

He could almost feel Father Bats glare burning into him for the sin he has committed. _Sorry father, for I have sinned. _"Flounder doesn't even make sense," he complained.

Batgirl snorts. "Please, whenever you get offended in any way, your face puffs out—thus Boy _Flounder_. It makes you look like you're nine. How old are you?" she asks before jumping down into an alleyway.

Robin didn't question her motives and followed her anyway. "Old enough."

"I bet you haven't even been through puberty," she smirked and snuck up to a doorway. She wiped something off of her face and then started messing around with her makeshift utility belt. Her inexperience with this was becoming obvious as she didn't even know which pocket held what.

She finally found what she was looking for and pulled out a small disk that was about the size of the quarter, but a bit thicker. She gazed all around the doorway until she found a nook and tucked the disk into the small opening. She looked pleased with herself and snuck out of the alleyway before finding another way up to the rooftops. "What was that?" he asked.

Batgirl smirked, "You work with the world's greatest detective—figure it out."

"That was a bug, which means…"

That she's more serious than what him and Bats first thought. They both initially thought that she was in it for just the rush, and maybe she had some sort of emotional reason too, but the tracker…it meant that she was serious about this sort of stuff. She was actually tracking someone, which means she was solving what could only be assumed was a case. This. _This._

This isn't what he was expecting.

She's obviously smarter than he anticipated, and she's obviously got a system working out. Maybe there was a possibility that he could find her through the Batcomputer. He didn't know how, _exactly_, but he could find a way. He was the Boy Wonder after all.

He was _totally_ not interested in Batgirl.

He was suddenly _very_ glad he didn't take Artemis out on patrol. "Listen, as much as I _love _having you while I go on patrol. I need to skedaddle," she pranced over and placed her lips on his. His eyes widened until his mask wouldn't let his eyes widen anymore. He felt her tongue sweep across his bottom lip before she let go of him. It was too much for the thirteen-year-old boy. She smirked and did a little salute before stepping to the edge of the building, "See ya later, Lover Boy." She saluted again and did a back flip off the building.

Yeah, he didn't have any _feelings_ towards Batgirl.

"And when I thought you couldn't get in a deeper hole, you manage to dig to China," Robin nearly jumped out of his boots when he heard the voice.

He whipped around the see Red Arrow approaching him. _For the love of Father Bats…_ Robin wanted to groan. To scream. To do _anything_. Of course Roy would just happen to see him in his time of awkward weakness. It's what Roy did. Be extremely awkward. "I—"

Being Roy, he didn't let Robin finish. "I thought you were dating Artemis."

It took Robin a second to make sense of what he meant before he realized. _Fuck—I mean, frick. Sorry Father Bats. _He _was_ dating Artemis—or at least that's what everyone thinks. Well, everyone thinks that Dick Grayson is dating Artemis. Robin went to open his mouth, "I'm not dating her—" but Roy was still being Roy "The Interrupter" Harper.

"Are you implying that Dick Grayson can date someone while Robin goes off and fucks around?" Roy asked.

Robin raised his hands in a defensive position, "I wasn't implying that."

"Uh huh, what if I went and told Artemis that you were cheating on her with the newest Bat?"

"She would wonder how I had any relations to Batgirl considering _I'm just a plain, ordinary guy_."

"Do you expect me to just let this pass over?"

"Well considering _nothing happened_, just a bit."

"You cheated on Artemis!"

"I didn't do anything!"

"How would you feel if I told Bats?"

_Okay_, that was a low blow. "…you wouldn't."

"He will straighten you out."

"I will tell Artemis about your _altercation_ with her sister."

The two just stared at each other for a moment. "Fine, but I care about Artemis because she's like my sister—"

"Incest."

"—and I don't want her getting hurt just because you decide to be a playboy."

"Arrowcest. Roy loves Artemis."

"Seriously?"

"Why were you stalking me?" Robin asked. He started at Red Arrow and waited for an answer.

It took Red a minute, but he finally remembers. "Bats said we had a mission and I offered to find you since I figured you would be with Artemis, but it seems that you had _other_ plans," he narrowed his eyes at Robin.

Robin rolled his at Red Arrow, "Whatever. Let's go to the Zeta Beam." It didn't take the two long to get to the Zeta and transport to the mountain. Basically everyone was there sans Artemis and Zantanna. The team was just lounging around waiting for Batman to give them a mission. Wally was upside-down on the couch and eating chips just begging to choke on them. M'gann and Superboy were totally _not_ flirting. Aqualad was trying to figure out how to play _Go Fish. _The Team barely glanced up when Red Arrow and Robin entered the room.

However, when Batman entered the room, the whole team scattered about trying to look like they weren't just screwing around and tried to look productive. "I have a mission," Batman began like always.

"Uh, Batman, aren't we going to wait for Artemis?" M'gann asked.

Batman narrowed his eyes, but continued on, "There has been a series of random kidnappings in Gotham and I have not been able to put together the exact reason behind the kidnapping, nor if they are connected in anyway."

Wally raised his hand, "Uh, isn't this in your city, so why aren't you and Robby-boy taking the mission?"

Batman sent him the Batglare before continuing, "There have been around thirty-four kidnappings," Batman typed in some codes and the pictures of the victims popped up.

Everyone was quiet as they memorized the faces, "The main POI's include," he paused to bring up two pictures. "Barbara Gordon and Artemis."

There was a general gasp from the team as everyone looked around. He knew he should have taken Artemis on patrol that night! He shouldn't have been so selfish.

_Artemis…Babs…_His girls. Someone had kidnapped _his girls._

**A/N: Because apparently no one read the first A/N, Batgirl in this chapter was Bette, not Babs. _Babs_ was sitting at home drinking hot chocolate.**_  
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	14. Chapter 14

**A****/N: Thanks for all the love. I went through a majors writers block. I couldn't write the next Batgirl section. I know what I want to write, but I can't get it to translate. And with Invasion, my plot making abilities are currently distracted by the new season. So this is a little filler. It was awkward because I was halfway through writing this and BAM! Timmy and Jaybird are on Young Justice. I personally love the new season, BTW. So please review and I will give you a complementary Teen Titans Annual where Artemis FREAKING DIES. (Yeah, I cried)**

Babysitter

_Oh, it'll be fun Artemis! Little kids are fun to play with. I promise that Jason won't hurt you, a lot. What's a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than babysitting little kids? _

Artemis could think of a ton of ideas, but for some reason, she agreed to fill in babysitting for Dick Grayson. She was debating on giving him an earful. He had probably managed to trick her into this—seduced her or something. He promised that he "owed her big time", but she doesn't exactly know what that means.

He better buy her a freaking pony for this.

"Again, thanks Artemis," Dick smiled at her while he patted the younger boys. Looking at the two younger boys, Artemis really wasn't sure why she was doing this. Sure he was going to owe her, and Robin or Dick Grayson owing her could come in handy sometime in the future, but Artemis was _not _prepared for this.

The two boys peeked out form behind Dick's legs. One was a black haired, blue-eyed, six year old boy and the other was a black-haired, green-eyed ten-year-old boy. "So the left clinger," he gestured to the obviously older one, "is Jason. He's my adopted little brother. He tried to steal the wheels off the _special car_," Dick did some weird, spazzy thing with his face that Artemis could only assume was a wink. "So Bruce decided _why not?_ And righty is Timmy," he gestured to the younger boy. "He's our neighbor's kid, but his parents are practically never around, so we babysit him constantly," Dick explained and tried to push the younger ones out in front of him.

Both of the boys clung every tighter to Dick's legs. "But today I get to watch them," Artemis finished.

"Again, I owe you. Bruce gave me some info for a _project_, and I need to get that done, but I forgot that I already told the Drake's I'd watch Timmy." He bent down and picked up Tim and started bouncing Tim on his hip.

Artemis tried not to laugh, "You'll be a great mother one day."

He smirked, "I know right? It's my motherly instincts. Here," he held out Timmy for Artemis to take. She stared at the young boy. Artemis wasn't really good with young kids—if it wasn't obvious by her sudden fear. She reluctantly took the little boy. She's never been good around children. It's not like she's ever had to deal with kids before. She was, after all, the "baby" of her family. It's not like she ever had to babysit in the Shadows.

Artemis held the boy at arms length. Timmy gave her one of the sassiest looks she had ever seen—probably learned it from hanging around Dick too much. "Never held a kid before?" Dick asked with a smirk.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Lucky for you, Babs will come so she can cook dinner for you."

"Don't you have a butler that does that kinda stuff?"

"Alfred? He's in Taiwan."

"Why—oh never mind."

"Babas coming?" Timmy asked. Artemis brought him closer and balanced him on her hip and he clung to her jacket.

Dick smiled and moved closer—he had to drag his leg because Jason was still holding onto it—so he could ruffle Tim's hair. "Yep, but right now Artemis is going to take care of you."

"'Mis?" Timmy mumbled.

Dick grinned and looked up at Artemis like _he just came up with your new nickname, sweetie-pie. _"Yeah, you both better listen to Artemis. Jason make sure Timmy doesn't get hurt and keep Artemis in line." He pushed Jason off of his leg and towards Artemis, but the boy just went to grab onto Dick again. Dick leaned down and whispered something in Jason's ear. Jason pouted but walked over to Artemis. Dick smiled and grasped onto Artemis' hand. He carefully kissed it, "Thank you, Artemis. Remember, I owe you."

That left Artemis alone in Wayne Manor with two little babies. This wasn't awkward at all. "So what do you guys want to do?" she asked hoping that the kids could figure out something cool to do. It's not like she could pull from her past for inspiration of what to do.

"Pudding," Timmy said.

"Uh…considering you can't really do pudding, how about something else?" She really didn't want to be known as the chick that burned down Bruce Wayne's—AKA Batman's—humble abode.

Yeah, that would sure look good on her resume.

The two boys went into a conversation of what to do—mainly with Timmy throwing out ideas and Jason shooting them down.

"Legos."

"Bruce got rid of those because I left some _downstairs_."

"_Lego Batman_?"

"Bruce doesn't like that game cause it objectifies Superheroes."

"Play catch."

"Bruce doesn't let us play catch anymore after he gave Dick a concussion."

"Popcorn."

"I think we ran out the last time Dick's idiot friend came over."

"Can we go outside and climb trees?

Jason turned to look at her. It passed his judgement.

_Sure the worst thing is that you can only break your neck and Batman will suddenly decide to revoke his no-kill policy! _"Sure thing, Jason." Jason led them through the mansion. Artemis didn't really come to the manor that often even though Dick was becoming—even though Artemis would never admit it—one of her best friends. It was still awkward with the whole Birthday incident, but it was also the fact that Artemis can't be around Bruce Wayne.

There is going to be a point where Artemis just accidentally let's something slip past her tongue about Robin/Dick and Bruce is going to catch on—probably a bird pun. She's not exactly sure of the consequences of knowing, but it really wasn't in her agenda to find out what punishment he had in store—probably hanging her from Wayne Towers by her hair. Batman was basically the definition of fear—well, technically, Scarecrow is a more of the personification of fear. Artemis didn't like Scarecrow. The team had a run in with him once—her, Robin, and Roy got a good face full of fear gas.

Artemis doesn't want to talk about it.

She lifted Tim up so he could grab onto the higher branches. "You need a lift too?" she asked Jason.

He snorted, "Psh, I can reach those branches." Jason stood on his tiptoes and grabbed onto the lower. He swung up until she was staring at an upside down, little boy. "See, 'Mis?" He flipped around and started climbing further up the tree.

Timmy stood up and tried to grab onto Jason's ankle, "Jay, Dick said we aren't supposed to go past that branch," he protested.

Jason snorted. "Yeah, he also said he convinced Bruce to get me a dog for my birthday. Do you like dogs, 'Mis?"

Artemis looked up at him. She probably should be stopping him from climbing up the tree, but she was just a bit _distracted_ with her thoughts.

She could almost hear Dick mocking her.

_If you don't get tracted soon, my little brother is going to have split skull and you'll have to face the wrath of Daddy Bats. _

"Uh, yeah. I guess," Artemis answered.

Jason grinned at her, "I like dogs too."

"Why don't you come over more often, 'Mis? Aren't you Dick's girlfriend?" Timmy asked while trying to reach a branch that was just a bit too high for him to reach.

Jason nearly slipped off the branch, "_You're_ Grayson's girlfriend?" he choked out.

Artemis scratched her head before realizing that Dick was still leading on that they're dating. Figures. He still can't fess up to Batman that Artemis knew anything. He'd rather let Artemis deal with the wrath of overprotective Bats.

Batman made her do an extra hour of training because she "could have slipped up with that last move during training".

"Yeah," she finally answers. The truth is that she's distracted. She's never been more distracted in her life. All she can think about right now is her own sibling while watching Dick's. She used to be like Timmy. She used to hang upside down from the tree and basically play _20 Questions_ with Jade. Of course, Jade usually didn't want to play, but Artemis was persistent and a bit ignorant.

It had been right before Jade had left. Jade said she needed to get out of the house where there was no chance of her being heard and Artemis had somehow managed to convince Jade to let her tag along.

Artemis sat in a tree and watched her sister plan and talk to herself. "Jade, what's going on?" Artemis asked and swung upside down from the tree.

Jade looked up at her and muttered something about stupid, ignorant kids. "Look, sis, some stuff has happened."

There was a pause as the two girls just stared at each other. Artemis went back to swinging upside down. "Jade, whatchya thinking about?" Artemis asked and nearly slipped off of the tree. Jade was sitting on the grass leaning against a tree. Her knees were curled up to her chest. She was muttering stuff to herself. Artemis hadn't learned how to read lips yet—she would learn soon, though, for moments like this. When people weren't in the mood for talking to anyone but themselves.

Jade's eyes snapped up at her and narrowed. "How can you be happy? Mom's in jail."

Artemis stopped swinging and let her ponytail fall down. She stared at her older sister, "Dad's gonna help her get out like he always does."

Jade snorted, "Mom's not going anywhere any time soon." She crossed her arms and glared at the blonde girl that was her sister and that she always had to take care of.

Artemis brows knit together before she swung till she was sitting on the branch. "What do you mean? Dad takes care of Mom, and then they take care of us."

"Are you really that stupid, Artemis?" Jade snapped.

Artemis clenched her jaw and looked at her sister. Her sister did occasionally snap at her—it made sense, they were sibling—but it was uncalled for. What was Artemis doing wrong? "That's how a family works," she mumbled out.

"And you think we're a family?"

Artemis paused, "You're my sister, and Mom and Dad are my—our parents."

"You had it right the first time, _sis_," the term wasn't used as a way of endearment. No, Jade was using it to _mock_ her. "I'm not apart of this family anymore," Jade announced, like she was _proud._

Artemis didn't understand.

"But you're my _sister_, and this is our _family_."

Jade stood up and stared at her younger sister whom was still perched up in the tree like a little bird. "No, Artemis, I'm _leaving_. I'll accept being your sister, but I'm done with being associated with Mom and Dad. I'm gonna go strike it on my own," she announced like she was still unsure about the decision herself, but telling her sister about it was helping solidify itself in her mind. Helping force herself into this. Helping her stick to this and not back out like the last second. She wouldn't back out like Dad. Not like Dad. _Never _like Dad.

Artemis nearly fell off the tree branch as she reached for her sister, as if her little hands could do anything to change her sister's mind. "_Jade_," Artemis protested. Jade reached up and let Artemis fall into her arms.

She held Artemis for a second before putting her on the ground.

"Jade, you can't go," she protested again.

"Sis, I'm not going to be stuck with Dad while—" she paused for a second. Her words choked out. She fell silent and just stared at Artemis like there was something else—something that Artemis was missing.

"Where are you going to go?"

She sat down on the ground. "Talia al Ghul offered me a position on her personal guard…do you remember Talia?" Jade asked.

Artemis bit her lip, "You mean the lady Dad gets some of his jobs from?"

"Yeah…she says I have potential."

"You're leaving protecting me so you can go protect her."

Jade opened her mouth to protest, to say that she wasn't doing that. That she was going for the opportunity. It was _Talia al Ghul,_ and working for her would open up so many doors for Jade. The opportunities. The potential. It was all too appealing for her to refuse. Or at least, that's what she's convinced herself that that's what she doing, and why she's doing it.

And not because she doesn't want to watch Artemis get raised the same way her father raised _her_.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: 200 reviews? You guys are the best. I want to do something special for you guys. I'm probably just going to end up sending everyone a message of love and bunnies. Seriously. Thank you for reading and reviewing and faving. Next part will be the end of the FIRST Batgirl Ark. Yeah, I have another one planned (it's heavily hinted at the end of this chapter). So who's seen the (sketchy)spoilers for this Season? I'm not going to say anything except for BART. yeah, done. Again, thank you so much for all of the support through this story. Review and you get a free ticket for a date with Roy. **

Legacy

Artemis was not having a good day.

She shouldn't be that surprised, though; she _never_ has good days. It's becoming a basic guideline of her life. So getting kidnapped while she was sleeping should just be normal by now because nothing good ever happens.

Maybe she was overreacting.

She was only kidnapped.

_Kidnapped._

Artemis would like to take this moment to point out she _always_ gets the small stick when it comes to life. She can't seem to get anything right anymore.

That or she just was _really _good at getting kidnapped.

Probably the second one.

Artemis was exhausted. Her mind had been keeping her up all week with the whole Batgirl issue. First, it was just the fact that there was a Batgirl and Batman was about ready to strangle—not kill—someone because of it. Then, there was the fact that Batgirl was just Barbara Gordon—you know, that chick she goes to school with because Gotham Academy is apparently a superhero school. Then, there was also that point when she found out there were two Batgirls.

With personal problems on top of that, Artemis decided she needed a break.

This morning she went to _IHOP_ got a pancake with extra whip cream. Purposely leaving her phone at home to make sure Wally doesn't whine and moan to her the whole time about being hungry. Then she went to the library. She didn't actually read—she just went to the kid section of the library and slept in a bean bag chair. Then she went out to lunch with Roy because he has money and she is currently stealing from the Boy Wonder for grocery money. She likes to consider that lunch-together thingy as a date, and not an interrogation like Roy tried to have it as. He was quite an attractive man, so she just stared at him and enjoyed her pasta while ignoring every single question that was shot her way. Then, she went home. Ignored the fact that the dishwasher was broken again, and changed a light bulb in the bathroom. She took a bubble bath with that stuff that's supposed to soothe her. She debated on going to the cave to get a massage from Robin, but apparently he was on patrol with Batgirl. Artemis wasn't quite sure which one because hasn't confronted Babs about it. Then, Artemis had some hot chocolate and went to bed.

Artemis should have figured that having a nice day meant that she had to get kidnapped in the night.

Of course, Artemis isn't allowed to be happy because her name is Artemis Crock. That's a legit reason, right?

Artemis opened her eyes to reveal that she was in a blindfold. Oh goody. This is only going to get more amazing from now on. Artemis was sure of it because she's an optimist. As you can tell. She tested out her hands to find that they were also chained to the wall. Artemis got to her feet, so that the cuffs would stop cutting off the circulation in her hands.

Artemis tested out her fingers. They were still numb. If she could only reach the lock pick that was hidden away in a scar on her thumb then she could probably pick the lock on her wrist and escape from where ever she was. She started cutting away at the palm of her hand to get to the lock pick that her dad had implanted in her palm in case this ever happened. She also had a jigsaw hidden away on a scar on her leg. Her Dad thought of everything cause he was her Dad, and he always expected her to end up in situations like this because she was supposed to be a _bad_ guy.

Artemis nearly had it when two hands slammed down on her wrists. She yelped and acted on impulse. She tried kicking up at the person, but didn't realize that her feet were also bond to the ground. Why didn't she realize that earlier? Of course, her bleeding wrists were going to prove as a reminder for later mistakes.

Her legs nearly gave out underneath her, but she couldn't risk getting cut _more_. Her legs shook a bit, but they managed to hold her weight. Artemis fruitlessly searched through her blindfold to see anything. Even though her other senses were heightened, nothing could make up her loss of sight. She was an archer. She _needed _to see. She depended on it.

"If you were still being trained by the Shadows, you would have been able to break out by now," a voice teased. Artemis froze. The person's hands were still restrained her from doing anything. "_Sis_." The person added in a mocking tone.

"Jade, what are you doing?" Artemis hissed, trying to break free of her sister's grasp.

"Oh sis, I thought Father Dearest taught you better," she teased.

"I don't know what kind of messed up game this is—I don't really care. Just let me go."

"Always so demanding. Just because you're the baby of the family doesn't mean you will always get your way." She could feel Jade's claws slowly cutting into her wrists. Without warning, she ripped off the blindfold. The light burned for a second before her eyes readjusted.

Her eyes immediately landed on her sister. She was wearing some costume that Artemis knew she had seen before, but just couldn't put her finger on it. "Jade."

"Artemis."

"I don't know what game this is, but I don't want to play."

Jade laughed, "Such a party pooper. You have to stop hanging out with that Arrow boy. He is _such_ a bad influence. Maybe you should hang out with me some more. You know, sisterly bonding and such," she smirked and played with the blindfold. It twisted around her fingers.

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Bonding. Yes. Good idea. What did you have in mind, dearest sister?"

"Always so sassy. You got that from Dad, you know? I was thinking you should totally join me in my _adventures_," Jade pulled off her shoulder and threw it at Artemis' feet.

She raised an eyebrow, "You know, considering my hands are chained to a wall, I'm not going to be able to open that bag."

Jade rolled her eyes, "Always so needy, Sis." Jade bent down and sipped open her bag. She pulled out a mask that was similar to her Cheshire mask. "You can join me. We can be sisters, _Lynx_," Jade smirked and twirled the mask in her fingers.

"You're seriously trying to convince me to join your side?" Artemis deadpanned.

Her sister rolled her eyes, "No, I wanted for us to bake cookies while dressed up as cats." She waited for Artemis to respond, but found that Artemis was done playing games. She was done bantering with Jade. All she wanted to do was get out of this mess. "Come on, Sis. Don' you think it's time you jumped trains?" she asked a bit more seriously.

"I've already jumped trains once and nearly fell off. I'm good. I'm in a good place for once in my life, Jade. I want to stay there."

Jade narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure you're in a good place? What about all of those baby Bat trouble you are dealing with in Gotham. Lying to Batman must be really hard," she smirked as if this was just a whole game.

Artemis eyes widened, how did Jade know about the whole Batgirl issue. "How…?"

"Let's just say someone on your team is very _informative_. Also, the little Bat has found herself some new issues. People are getting drawn to her like moths to a flame. And this Bat is causing quite a _blaze_." Jade smirked if she was having an inside joke or something.

"What do you mean?" Artemis really wished that she wasn't tied to a wall. If something was happening to Babs…no she couldn't think like that. Robin was protecting her. Artemis didn't have to always be there for Batgirl. She wasn't Batgirl's protector or anything, but she would protect Barbara.

"Jade, stop pestering Artemis," a voice called out form the other side of the room. A figure slowly appeared in the light and Artemis barely believed what she was seeing.

Talia al Ghul.

If this wasn't a blast from the past, she didn't know what _was._ Was Artemis staring? Yes, she was, but quite frankly she hasn't seen Talia al Ghul since she was a little blonde assassin and, to say the least, and when she used to look up to the woman like Talia was her own mother. It's _interesting_ to see her again. Artemis felt like Talia was going to start scolding her like she was her mother.

Huh, didn't she just have that thought process like a couple of days ago?

Except she was comparing Batman to her father. Oh _God._ That would make Batman and Talia al Ghul her parents. The result of them having a child would be someone just short of being a demon.

Talia stood in front of Artemis and just stared at her. Artemis could almost feel the judging vibes radiating off of Talia. It was making her skin irritated. They held a stare together for a second before Talia looked towards Jade, "I need to speak to Artemis alone."

Jade looked like she wanted to protest, but complied. You just don't argue with Talia al Ghul—_especially_ when she's your boss' daughter. Jade turned giving Artemis one last smirk and mouthed, _Lynx._

Artemis rolled her eyes and stared back at Talia. She felt awkward. Talia al Ghul was about as close to a princess as Artemis had ever met—she's never met Wonder Woman. And not only is Talia al Ghul a princess, but princess of the _League of Shadows._ In other words, she's the princess of the Assassin's. An immortal princess too.

So, yeah, Artemis felt awkward being chained to a wall with the princess of the assassin's staring her down like she was going to give Artemis a _talk. _Talia reached for something in her pockets and pulled out a little remote. Oh goody, they were going to watch TV together.

Her bonds released and Artemis had to lean against the walls to prevented herself from falling to the ground. Her arms dropped immediately, and she felt the blood rush into her arms. She rubbed her bleeding wrists and looked up at Talia whom was still in her judging stance. Her eyes darted to the exit that Jade had used to get out of the room and then back at Talia. "Talia?"

"Don't try leaving. You won't make it twenty feet before someone takes you out—not that I don't have faith in you, but you are reliant on your hands." She stopped there, but there was an obvious train of thought that she would have continued. She stopped, though. Artemis knew what she was going to say. What was the point of just repeating thoughts?

"The answer is still no," Artemis mumbled, looking away.

She could almost feel Talia's eyes digging into her neck, "You have potential," Talia argued.

"To follow in Jade's footsteps and be _exactly_ like her. I'm a…hero now. I do hero stuff, you know?"

"Are you doing it for the right reasons, Artemis?" Talia asked again. "Or are you just doing it to spite your father, your sister, and even your mother?"

If there was one thing Artemis didn't like about Talia, it was the fact that she was so old and experienced that she knew what was going on, what you were going to say, what you were going to do without _you_ even knowing for sure. She understood a person's hidden conscious decisions better than the person himself.

So this made Talia a huge pain in the neck because she was almost always right.

"_No_," she made her voice clear and tried to sound resolved. "I'm tired of just killing—"

"So you're bored?"

"_No._ I owe people this. I owe myself this. I don't need to explain why I'm doing this. The point is that this is what I'm doing and I'm not going to be doing whatever you want me to do."

"My personal guard isn't just some silly side project like this hero-ing thing you're doing."

Artemis rolled her eyes and finally pushed herself off of the wall. Her legs shook for a second, but managed to keep their planting on the ground. Her standing up straight reminded Artemis of just how _short_ she was compared to other people. It was almost embarrassing—Dick was even starting to catch up to her. "No."

Talia narrowed her eyes, "Fine, I already found some other candidates from Gotham that would be _thankful_ for such an opportunity."

The tone was almost teasing, "_Other candidates?_" Artemis question. She had a feeling she knew where this was going, but she didn't like it—she didn't want to believe it.

Talia's lips curled a bit, "You know how it is. We needed more members and there and plenty of people in Gotham. Some of them you might _know._"

Artemis eyes widened, "You can't just—"

Talia cut her off and waved a hand, "How long do you plan on keeping your association with Batgirl away from the Detective?"

Artemis eyes widened and she gulped. How did Talia al Ghul know about Batgirl? "Until she can manage on her own," Artemis knew her answer wasn't as strong as it should be. Talia was going to chew her out on it. She found a weak point and she was going to continuously stab at it.

"Why not have her train here then?" she suggested.

"No!" Artemis nearly fell over.

Talia smirked, "Wouldn't that be the best training? Or should I just hand her over to the Detective?"

"You have Ba-Batgirl?" Oh, not good. She nearly just revealed Barbara's identity. That's like her calling out "Dick" in the cave whenever Robin walked into the room. Not only would it be awkward, but also Batman would most likely cut her tongue out.

"We are in possession of Barbara Gordon, and we are aware of her alias as Batgirl. You might not wish for the opportunity to join us, but I believe Miss Gordon would love for the experience, don't you agree?" Artemis…was almost sure Babs would go ahead with it to train herself to be a better fighter. Would Barbara go to the Shadows for training? Or was her moral standards better?

"There is another option…"

Artemis stared up at Talia, knowing that this was probably her plan all along. Toy with Artemis, give her false option, scare her, and then offer her something that she _cannot_ refuse. "We have had issues with another Assassin organization recently. We would like for you _and_ Miss Gordon to track them down. Oh, and don't involve the Detective or the Team. Only you and Miss Gordon."

"That's it?"

"Yes."

Artemis was working with the Shadows again. She could almost hear Roy calling her a mole again. His mocking tone almost ringing in her ear. If the Team found out, she would be ostracized. Then again, she would be ostracized for her interaction with Batgirl…

"We'll do it."

She was going to work with the Shadows.

Remember that hole she was digging before with Batgirl? Yeah, that hole just got a hell of a lot bigger.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: And the end of the Batgirl Arc with a crappy ending chapter! Sorry I haven't been able to write this weekend because of AP exams. My mom took away my computer until yesterday afternoon. Oh yeah. My dad caught the kitchen on fire earlier today. I actually managed to dislocate my leg. I'm a screw up. So I just wanna know what you guys think of Invasion? Liking it or hating it? Review and you get a free _Aquabad_. **

Fast 

Every muscle in Artemis' body was tensed. It was one of those moments were she just wanted to run. The fight or flight reflex that she was so used to just acting on was really hard for her to ignore. She wanted to run. Or punch Talia al Ghul in the face. The latter wasn't a good idea. Since, you know, Talia al Ghul liked her face and so did Batman. It's a generally good idea not to piss off either of them. Cause, you know, they are pretty important people in Artemis' life.

Artemis was dead.

Is dead.

She wanted to cry out saying that this wasn't fair. That she shouldn't have to do this. Of course, Artemis didn't say anything. Her mouth was open, but she couldn't argue. No, she was going to have to deal with this. Although, she couldn't ignore the sinking feeling in her chest that all of this was going to end up caving in on her. All of it.

"I hope you realize I am not doing this to worsen your life. We honestly need your help."

"Why can't you have someone else do it?" she huffed out.

Talia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "We have a leak within the Shadows, and so I need someone on the outside to help us. I can't trust anyone in here—"

"But you trust me?"

"Yes," she snapped. "You were one of our best that we have trained and you have made yourself a name, whether it be for us or for someone else. I'm proud of you, Artemis. You've done well. Now, you may go. Find Barbara Gordon. Find her before your Team finds out." Artemis raised an eyebrow at that. "I will contact you when the time comes when I need your help with the Council. Now go. _Now._"

It only took the shift of Talia's eyes in the right direction for her to take off down the hall.

Artemis would like to think that she gets over things easily. Good enough that they just go through one ear and out the other—_oh wait_, that's actually how her schoolwork is—that or Artemis is just very good at suppressing them. So as she ran thought the corridors—taking turns left and right as if acting on instinct—she pushed down the fear of what would—_will_ happen to her after this whole ordeal. She needed to think of _now_ and plan for that. Now she needed to find Babs, but why was Talia so adamant on her finding Babs before the Team?

Unless…

She's seen this tactic before, dress up the hostages like guards. Heroes, policemen, or whoever is looking for them will just pass them by—or even beat the crap out of them.

_Oh God._

Artemis wasn't exactly sure _how_ she knew where she was going, but it was obvious that she was going to right way. Okay, maybe it wasn't _obvious_, but it felt right and that was always enough. She just couldn't let Babs and the Team…

Yeah, Artemis' day was easily picking up from this morning after having a _lovely_ conversation with her sister. Hm, she didn't have breakfast this morning. Jesus Christ…she was turning into _Wally_. Complaining about not getting food? What's next—running into walls?

When Artemis saw Jade—or at least the back of her—she slammed Jade to a wall hard enough that her forehead cracked against the wall. "Where's the hostages?" she asked.

There was a grunt and a moan from her, but nothing else. "_Jade_."

There was another grunt. Finally, Artemis flipped her around and pressed her elbow against the her neck. Then, the realization hit her. She _was_ wearing the same exact outfit as Jade, but then again, so was Artemis. They were all wearing the same outfit.

Wally moment number 2. Acting on impulse.

Artemis ripped off the person's cowl-mask thing—it covered the person's entire face—to reveal a terrified girl with a gag in her mouth. Artemis immediately let the girl down and stumbled out an apology. She ripped the gag out of the girl's mouth. "I swear to God that this is punishment for me stealing that purse—I will _never _steal again. I swear."

Artemis just sent her a bemused look. "Um, I think you can get out of this place through that door…_over there…_" she motioned towards a door down an extremely dark and totally not sketchy hallway. The girl looked like she wanted to protest and like she was confused at why Artemis was not helping her out and just sending her down a random hallway.

Yes.

Artemis wins best hero of the year.

Take that Batman.

Artemis poorly rescued about five more people until she finally ran into a member of the Team. One guess on which it was. Artemis looked down from the rafter that she was on. It looked like the Team had split up to take on more ground. Artemis and countless other people had been kidnapped. They were probably in a fritz about it.

And Artemis was going to take advantage of this—oh _God,_ she was already thinking like her sister. At this rate, next week she'll be flirting with Red Arrow and have cute little pet names for the whole Team.

Artemis leapt from the rafters and landed on Wally, knocking him to the ground. Before he could even touch her, she flipped back and landed on the random hostage. You know, thinking about how she was about to rescue the hostage that they would be grateful for Artemis and shower her with gifts and such. No such luck. This one _punched _her in the face before letting out a high-pitched squeal. Artemis pulled the mask off to reveal that it was Barbara.

Apparently it's a two for one ginger deal today.

Artemis quickly un-gagged Barbara and got off of her. Only to be tackled back onto the ground with a hug. "_Artemis!_" she was nearly shaking. "Oh God, Artemis. I was just having hot chocolate and then all the sudden these people—then it was dark—they shocked me—but it wasn't too bad because I'm used to electricity—I once stuck my finger in a socket when I was little—and then they were like—you're the chosen—I didn't even like that book—I'm not Jewish—Oh God—Artemis—I thought they were going to train me to be an assassin—but you came—you should have been faster," Babs finally coughed and got off of Artemis and stood up. She dusted some dust off of her pants and tried to act nonchalant about what just happened. She nodded towards Wally before offering Artemis a hand.

"Nice to see you too Babs," Artemis smirked.

Babs blushed and scratched the back of her neck, "Yeah, thanks for saving me and stuff before Kid Flash could beat the crap out of me," she said sheepishly.

"I wasn't going to hurt you, baby doll!" Wally protested.

Artemis rolled her eyes and bit back a retort that was almost _oozing_ out—she was _sooooo_ telling Dick later that Wally hit on one of_ his girls_. Revenge is sweet. "I didn't save you, I was actually kidnapped too—speaking of which, tell the rest of the Team not to attack any of the guard."

Wally's eyes widened. He put both of his hands in the air and then motioned towards Barbara before making a chocking noise and then throwing his hands over his eyes. Artemis knew Wally long enough to know how to translate him being an idiot. _Don't tell her about you being special, you dipshit archer face!_

Barbara raised a hand, "I know about her being a dipshit archer vigilante, so please don't mind me."

Wally raised an eyebrow, "You're pretty bad at this secret hero stuff, aren't ya blondie?"

"Shut up and tell the Team."

He made a face as he contacted the Team.

"Have I ever mentioned how ugly you are?"

He made another face at Artemis and she gladly returned one.

"God Artemis…you're Team is just so attractive," Babs muttered before mocking one of Artemis' faces. Artemis made it right back.

"The Team has apparently knocked out a good number of the hostages. Supes, Aqualad, and Miss M are taking care of getting them to the Cuban authorities. We're meeting at the bioship, which means that your little cute friend can't join us. She has to go with the authorities."

Babs and Artemis shared a look before snorting. "I will fight you," Babs puffed out before laughing with Artemis.

"Yeah, we're taking her on the ship," Artemis added in.

Artemis heard it before she even saw anything. The dignified _swoosh_ signaled an oncoming projectile. Artemis rolled to the side and barely dodged a throwing knife. She barely had time to turn around before someone landed on her back. "I'm baaaa-aaack!" her sister sang out. She pulled off the mask that she had on her face and dropped it next to Artemis.

"Uhh...is she another one of your friends?" Wally asked.

Artemis groaned, "_Seriously? _No! She's Cheshire!" Artemis rolled off of her back, which flipped Jade off. Before Wally could even react to the situation at hand, Jade managed to send off threw throwing knives that went _through _his foot and pinned him to the ground. He let out a little scream in protest, and Artemis didn't blame him. He _needed _his feet and right now they were pretty much stapled to the ground.

Both Jade and Artemis flipped backwards. Artemis quickly grabbed a knife out of Wally's foot before Jade could launch herself back onto Artemis and forced her to the ground with a knife to Artemis' neck. She leaned into her sister's ear, "I can't _wait_ to work with _you_."

Artemis couldn't even explain how _angry_ she was. How she wanted to let the knife she had in her had slip and just hit Jade. To make her mark—to show her sister that she is tired of the games that Jade and her father play on her. She was done. Done. _Done._

Her knife fell blunt against her sister's skull. She couldn't kill. She gave that up when she joined this _new _life. And she just couldn't hurt her only sister. For a person to hurt one's own family, it was a line that she couldn't risk crossing because sometimes the only thing you have left is family. Artemis can't burn that bridge yet.

Jade went a bit slack in her arms. Artemis tossed her off of her and straddled her chest. She stared down at her sister. The resemblance between the two almost _hurt._ Surely, Barbara had put together the relation by now—maybe even Wally—oh wait, he was still crying about the knife in his foot to notice the two.

Her sister smiled up at her. It wasn't cruel. It wasn't warm. It wasn't sarcastic. It was just a smile. It struck a nerve in Artemis. Artemis didn't even know why it made her snap. _It just did._ She punched her sister in the face, knocking her out before getting up.

Her eyes almost immediately locked with Babs. It was in that moment that it seemed that Babs realized that this isn't a game for Artemis. They had known all about what were Barbara's motives of being Batgirl, but she had never bothered to ask why Artemis had taken on the vigilante life. Barbara was starting to realize that it was different from the reason why her or Bette had started this life. Artemis had _reasons_.

After a bit of coaxing, Artemis managed to help Wally out of the room by having him lean on her—_"But Artemis! My dignity!"._ They met up at the bioship and Artemis didn't look at anyone. She was too caught up. Stuff was happening and for once in her life she felt like she couldn't keep up. It was like during the Red incident when she had saw Robin drown. Every came crashing down on her. It was too much in one time.

Thankfully, Babs was there to try and cheer her up.

In retrospect, if she wanted to have a dignity left on the Team, she should have left Babs in Cuba and flew back with the Team. Unfortunately, she didn't think that part through. No. Instead she lost all dignity she had before by sacrificing it to sit on the floor with Babs. In the bioship. While making a fool of herself. By laughing. Like an idiot. About stupid stuff. That only they found funny.

Yes. Goodbye dignity. Hello, ridicule she was going to receive from both Wally and Roy for the next couple weeks.

"You should have found me faster," Babs complained, but she was smiling and hit Artemis on the shoulder.

The moment they got to the moment, Artemis was ready to be lectured by Batman. She was ready for him to yell at her, so that the next time he yelled at her—which would be soon—he wouldn't be too riled up. Instead, she was greeted by Ollie and Dinah hugging her when she got off of the ship.

It was a bit rigid at first because she never gets to hug people.

After some more reunion-ing, it was finally time for the interrogation to find out what happened. Basically everyone was there to listen and see what had happened. "Start from the beginning."

Okay, that was easy enough.

"I was sleeping."

"I was drinking hot chocolate and I saw in the reflection of my window that there was a person sneaking up. I threw my hot chocolate at him and managed to punch him in the face, but he got me."

"You're making me look like an idiot."

"That's the point."

"What happened when you woke up?"

Artemis and Babs glanced at each other. This is when their stories get to be a bit different. Artemis had _no idea_ what happened to everyone else. Thankfully, Babs took over for her, "They split us up into groups and were going to train us to join the Shadows—"

"Talia's guard to be specific," Artemis piped in. "I think they sent some other people to different cities or _outcaste_ them or something like that."

"Yeah, and they trained us and stuff…" Babs trailed off.

"They wanted people for Talia's personal guard specifically. There's a new assassin thing that's threaten them and they wanted more power," Artemis added in being careful not to add too much. She didn't need to be working side by side with the Dark Knight—him trying to impress Talia while Artemis trying to get out of her bonds.

"A new assassin thing?" Robin asked.

Artemis really wished she hadn't said anything. This is the moment when Robin was supposed to sweep in and save her from speaking ever again by saying something _suave._

"This seems like a job for the Team."

And when she gets home, remind her to beat the shit out of Dick Grayson.

**A/N: This does mark the end of the Batgirl arc. Again, this is a group of one-shots. They will not always relate to each other or be linear. Now. I'm done with angst until the next Batgirl arc. Enjoy some fluff of chapters to come. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for being gone so long, but I took a break because of school and finals. I had to focus on my school work for once. This story should pick right back up with weekly/biweekly updates-hopefully. Thank you for everyone that has reviewed. (Did you guys see the episode? My Traught emotions are through the roof-Dick is so in love with Artemis it _hurts_). This is a continuation of Babysitting. So please review!**

Baby

Artemis Crock would like to mention that she is not good with little kids and will never be. One of the big issues was that she had a tiny issue of spacing out.

It had been before her Mom had been sent to jail. Before Jade left. Before her Dad went crazy assassin trainer. Jade would always take Artemis out of the house and to the park.

The park just seemed to be a lot safer than a house filled with assassins.

Gotham City Park was a nice park. It tried to make up for the rest of the city being such a crap hole, and it actually did a pretty good job. Sure there were park guards dressed as "civilians" everywhere so that they could "_protect the people while keeping the ambiance of the park preserved"._

You could spot one of those guards easily.

They were always watching groups of people as if the group was about to pull out a Molotov cocktail and shout out _"This is for the Slovakians!"_ and start burning the park down. It was the best when they bothered mothers because they could be "_concealing weapons underneath the baby carriages interiors_".

So when Artemis saw the people basically swarming behind her and Jade as they stood next the Pond, it was completely normal.

The pond wasn't really a pond. It was more of a lake, but it was the only lake in the park that wasn't constantly treated with chemicals. That means that the Pond was able to grow all sorts of crazy animals that Artemis would never normally get to see considering Gotham City isn't really Frog Central. The Pond was full of frogs—and snapping turtles. Artemis once met this kid on the streets whom was missing a toe because he went swimming in the Pond.

It was the coolest thing her little five year old mind have ever witnessed.

Artemis bent down over the Pond's shoreline scanning for frogs to catch. Jade was standing above her waiting for Artemis to fall in—or for the Park's guards to tell them to stop _"disrupting the environment with the violent methods of teaching". _

Artemis' eyes landed on a particularly hidden frog. It was hidden underneath some of the duckweed that covered most of the Pond. "Silly frog," Artemis whispered as she inched closer to the frog. She leaned down onto her stomach and hid in the tall grass. She readied her hand in the air to catch the frog.

_Fwop. _Her hand flew into the muck that was the bottom of the pond. At first, Artemis wasn't really sure that she caught the frog—all she could feel was _muck _and _goo._

Finally, she felt the small wiggle in her hand. She jumped up out of the grass and shoved her hand in Jade's face.

The muck nearly gooped onto her sister's shirt before she pushed Artemis away, "Get that thing away from me."

"I caught a frog!" Artemis said happily.

Jade narrowed her eyes at her little sister, "I think you caught pond gunk…"

Artemis shook her head and wiped at her cheek—only to get more muck on her face, "No, I can feel him."

"Well, go wash him off in the water fountain. I don't think he can breath with all that stuff on him."

Artemis eyes widened before she clamped both hands together and ran off towards the nearest drinking fountain where she immediately began rinsing off the frog. Jade walked over and watched as guard approached her, "I would prefer if you did not make such advances towards the lives of the wildlife in Gotham City Park."

Jade raised an eyebrow at him, "It's a frog—stop acting like it's a baby. Go bother another pregnant lady."

The guard narrowed his eyes before he went and hid behind a tree and continued watching them.

Jade loved teasing them ever since that one time she brought fireworks into the park and set them all off.

Artemis ran back to Jade with the frog swinging limply in her hand, "Jade, this frog is wrong."

"And how is it wrong?"

"This _frog_ has a _tail_. Jade, frogs don't have tails," she explained and held the frog by the front legs to show the obvious tail that was still on the frog.

"Well the frog is still young, so he has his tail."

"I don't understand."

"Well, frogs are like people—they start out being someone and eventually end up growing out of it like the frogs grow out of their tails. Like one day, you won't even recognize yourself because you have grown and changed so much. People are like that. When they grow up they lose their old selves and grow into a new…_self._ You understand?" Jade explained.

She watched as Artemis' expression twisted around a bit, "_What_?"

Jade laughed and ran a hand through Artemis' fluffy hair, "One day, Mom's Vietnamese craziness will kick in and you will understand every metaphor ever."

"What will I get from dad?"

"You will be cheap because he's a cheap, Dutch bastard—don't tell Mom I swore in front of you."

Next thing Artemis knew, Jason was on the ground with bloody palms and a ripped up knee.

Jason falling out of the tree will forever be the proof that she should never have any kids. Timmy getting stuck up in the tree will also be good proof, too. This is why Artemis has Barbara Gordon on speed dial because if Artemis were ever thrown into a situation where she suddenly had a kid to take care of, she would call Babs.

"Wait," Jason said seriously even though he was clutching his knee with his ripped up hands, "You mean to say that you and Grayson are dating?"

"You're on the ground _bleeding_ and that's what you worry about?"

His nose wrinkled, "You guys are. That's disgusting. Just help me up. I'll be fine."

"Timmy—Jason why are you on the ground? Don't you guys remember what happened to Wally when he tried to show us how good he was at climbing trees?" Artemis turned around to see Barbara walking towards them. She had a smirk on her face.

Artemis had heard of that story before.

Wally had gone up the tree with pants and came down without them.

One of the best stories she had ever heard. If only she could actually use it against Wally, but _no_, she wasn't supposed to know about Robin's secret identity. _Stupid Bat taboo. _

Jason crossed his arms and pouted, "I wasn't that high up."

Barbara rolled her eyes and went over and picked Jason up. "Oh _god_. I think you've gotten fatter."

He stuck his tongue out at her, "You've just gotten weaker, ginger."

"I'm going to drop you. I don't care what Bruce does. I will hurt you. Art, can you get Timmy out of the tree while I take care of Jason?" she asked.

Artemis nodded and looked back at the big tree. Tim was standing on the lowest branch and grasping onto the maple leaves in front of him, "Mis, can you catch me?" he asked.

Artemis positioned herself underneath the branches and opened her arms, "Come on down."

Before she knew it, Timmy landed on her chest and clutched onto her like he was about to die. "It was so high up, Mis," he told her and snuggled his face into the crook of Artemis' neck. She smiled and patted his back and told him it would be okay.

It was weird having a kid in her arms. She hasn't held one since the one time all the way back when the world separated into the adult world and the kid world. She would never be ready for kids. She would never be a reliable parent. Sometimes, she would like to blame it on the fact that she didn't really grow up with a stable parent in the household, but look at Dick. He was going to be a great parent. A perfect parent and he didn't even _have _parents—well from age eight and on. So that cancels out Artemis' reason for being such a sucky person around kids.

Why was Dick so perfect?

She carried Tim into the kitchen and placed him on the counter. "Are you hungry?"

She watched as he turned to check the time on the stove before nodding yes. Artemis raised an eyebrow at that, but continued to the fridge and looked through it. Thankfully, there were pre-made sandwiches on a platter for them.

Was it wrong to hope that they were Bat-shaped?

She pulled out the platter and some juice and set them on the counter. "Where are the chips?"

"Third cabinet to the right," he responded immediately. Artemis raised an eyebrow and he blushed, "I come over a lot."

Barbara walked into the room with Jason trailing behind her. He was grumbling some stuff and scratching at his bandaged hands. Babs took the chips out of Artemis' hand and leaned in to whisper into her ear, "Jason has a crush on you and is pissed about you 'dating' Dick."

"You're kidding."

Babs just smirked in response and got some plates out of the cabinet, "Can you get the kids settled in the TV room?"

After watching three survivalist movies, the two boys were completely out. Tim was snug up to Babs' chest while Jason was all snug with Artemis. His little hands were fisted in her sweatshirt. Artemis played with his slightly curly hair as she watched Bear Grylls drone on about how dangerous it was to go into any river because of the rip currents.

"If I ever suddenly get a kid, you're gonna move in with me," Artemis joked. In all honesty, she—or Jason and Tim—probably wouldn't have survived the night without the help of her.

Artemis' bandaged up finger was proof of this.

"I plan on moving in with you when I grow up…and Bette…Dick can fund our house."

"But wouldn't that mean he would have rights to the house, so he could come over and stuff…?"

She groaned and through her head back, "Whatever. I guess we'll live in a box."

"Of _cheerios_?"

"Of cheerios_._"

"How do you get your hands untangled from his hair?" Artemis laughed trying to get her fingers out of the sleeping boy's hair.

Barbara snorted and continued stroking Timmy's hair. "Says the girl whose hair is the most impossible thing I have ever met. Bette couldn't even braid that thing. It's almost as bad as Dick's. I'm pretty sure you two don't brush your hair."

Artemis rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her.

_Might as well go for it now_.

Artemis picked up the TV remote and turned the program on a bit louder just in case Bruce had placed some cameras or some type of recording device in the couch cushions.

Actually, Artemis guarantees that he probably has recording devices in the cushions. Probably to catch Dick doing questionable things.

Because Dick Grayson is the sketchy-est boy alive.

"So…" Artemis started and continued to play with Jason's hair. "Bette…"

"What about…Bette?"

"You know…are you and her…"

Babs raised an eyebrow and finally turned her attention away from the always attractive Bear Grylls, "Uh…are you implying…"

"Uh, no. I mean. Well." Oh God. This was going to be difficult. Timmy and Jason were literally laying on top of them and there was basically no way of preventing them from hearing what Artemis and Barbara were saying—if they were awake that is. It seems they are out, but there was no way to be sure. It wouldn't be good if they were to wake up to hear Barbara admit she was Batgirl. Then they would run off and tell Bruce…then Artemis would be kicked from the Team…and everything would be bad...and sad.

"I'm pretty sure I'm straight, Art."

"I'm _not_ implying _that._"

"Yes you were."

"No, I was implying the other…you know."

Artemis nearly laughed when she almost ripped out some of Timmy's hair. Babs shrugged, "Uh, you mean…that kind of...going out. Like what me and you do. At night."

"Please don't do this."

"You brought it up, Arty."

"Lets get to the point."

Barbara shrugged and tried to turn her attention back to the TV, "I don't know what you mean."

"Uh huh, I heard from someone that he happened to see one of you—you know—_going out and stuff_, but you just happened to be kidnapped at the time. He said that she kinda looked like you and even _mistook_ her for you."

"Well, I think he needs to have his eyes checked."

"We saw _you_."

"Well, he saw wrong."

"You were kidnapped and he went _out_ with you."

"Art—"

"There are two of you."

"I—I don't want to explain it. Not here. We have reasons why we—why we...go out together."

The girls both paused and just looked at each other as the screen continued to flicked showing Bear Grylls killing a sheep for its wool.

"Did we really…?"

"Congrats, Artemis. We just make the most ridiculous comparison between dating and…" Babs went back to playing with Timmy's hair. Then, she bit her lip and looked back at Artemis, "Wait…if we let that comparison stretch out to other people…"

Artemis just gave her a dead look, "Don't."

Dick and Bruce got home way later that night. "How were Wally and Roy?"

He smirked and walked along with Bruce to the living room. "Totally beat them at bowling. Roy has surprisingly bad aim when bowling."

They walked into the TV room to see all of the people in the room passed out on the couch with the TV flickering and asking if they wanted to continue to the next episode. Artemis and Barbara were lying at opposite ends of the couch with Artemis' feet on Babs' calves. Jason and Timmy were lying on Artemis and Barbara respectively. Both of the boys had their faces dug into the girls' shirts.

Dick and Bruce shared a look before going to pick up the younger ones. Dick went to grab Tim. Tim yawned and dug his face deeper into Dick's shoulder, "Dick…?"

"Mhmm?"

"Did you know 'Mis and Baba are dating?" he mumbled.

"No, Timmy, Bette and Babs are dating," Jason argued and dug his face deeper into Bruce's shoulder. Dick and Bruce shared one more look—which contained quite a bit of judging on Bruce's part—before taking them both upstairs to their rooms.

That left the two girls who were past out on the couch. "What are we going to do with them?" Dick asked.

"I will inform Paula and Jim that Artemis and Barbara will be staying the night here," Bruce told him. "Oh and Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"Jason said that Artemis is _his._"


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I wrote most of this while not coherent and extremely tired. I don't understand half of it. BTW, at the end, everything in italics is French. Next is a semi-serious chappy. For now, have fun with the French class shenanigans. Um to answer Arbrick, there are no "set in stone" couples. A lot of pairings will be teased at, but no one is a couple. To explain the Dick/Artemis thing going on, its just to make Bruce think that Art doesn't know that Dick told Art about his ID and it's to creep out Wally and Roy. Thank you for the reviews and please review!**

The Overly-Extended Grayson Family

"And you four will be a family."

Artemis groaned and threw her head down against the desk. She shifted her face slightly so she could stare at the two kids next to her.

Dick freaking Grayson and Barbara angsting Gordon.

And the person in front of her, Bette stalking Kane.

Jesus Christ.

This family is going to be the most screwed up family she has ever seen. Worse than her own family. Worse than the Batfamily would be—eventually. Oops, spoilers. Oops, joke that won't be relevant for another five years.

What.

Artemis slowly dragged her face across her desk so she could glare at Dick. "You paid her to put us together, didn't you?"

Dick shrugged and scooted his desk closer to Artemis.

This wasn't the first time that Dick had used his money to…_advance_ people in life. The kid was going to be sketchy one day. Of course if he didn't become Batman, which is going to happen. Because, well, Bruce will get old, and Dick will take over unless there are multiple Robins who can also take over his spot.

What.

This is the last time Artemis agrees to go on a patrol with Babs and then Dick. Not only did she get home at six, but she was covered in some sort of slime from Poison Ivy, so it was either go to school in slime that could intoxicate many people and get in a couple hours of sleep or be clean and not have any sleep. Artemis decided that actually looking decent was a better move than actually ruining her social status at Gotham Academy.

She may have made the wrong choice.

"The four member of your group will have to have a conversation as a family at a dinner table. The requirements are for a decently coherent conversation with politeness to elders and table manors. It must all be in French—"

"Canadian or Creole?" Dick asked.

"Smart ass," Artemis grumbled before trying to take a swipe at him.

He quickly knocked her hand away before she could even get close. The classroom hummed slightly as everyone started moving their desks to form some sort of table to sit at. Artemis was only slightly aware when Bette pulled her desk out of its usual spot to towards the center of the room.

This was going to screw her perfect grade in this class.

And it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet.

It was actually the day before they get let off on Thanksgiving vacation. This would normally be a good thing, but Artemis completely forgot that she had a test in every class today. Instead, she was too busy being a super hero and stuff. You know, that can be pretty time consuming.

Speaking of time consuming things, Dick had actually just announced that the Team were going on an impromptu mission for Batman in Europe. _Europe_. They were leaving this afternoon. At least Artemis would then be able to sleep on the plane. Of course, that would be after her mental breakdown that the whole Team plus the lackey Roy would be able to witness.

She's gonna cry.

A lot.

_In front of Roy_.

"Um, Art. We need to kinda need to prepare for the oral quiz."

"Heh, _oral_."

"Dick, this is serious."

"I am being serious, Barbara. Artemis, if you don't wake up this instant, I will put this hummus in your hair," Dick threatened.

Artemis lifted her head only to see that Dick's threat wasn't empty. He had a bucket of hummus in his hand and was about to dip his fingers in to get a glob. Artemis glared at him, "I will castrate you in your sleep."

He shrugged before eating the glob of hummus. There was a slight moment when Artemis nearly let her stomach decide what she was going to do during that moment. If that had happened, then she would have grabbed his hand and ate the hummus. It was good that she was too tired to actually move. "So what are we doing?" she asked.

Babs set down some chips and then sat in her desk, which was next to Bette's and across from Dick's—wait, why was she next to Dick? She does not like this. "We are doing a family simulation. We are eating dinner and we have to speak French. You and Dick are mine and Bette's parents—"

"_NO. _I demand a divorce," Artemis shouted and slammed her palms against her desk.

Dick smirked, "Are you upset that you're being out-ed as a gold digger?"

Artemis sighed and propped her head up with her hands, "I'm gonna fail this class."

Dick raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you fluent in French?"

Artemis just stared him in the eye, "We're getting a divorce." She enjoyed his little pout before turning her attention back to the rest of them. "Why do we have to be married? Why can't—"

"—you be married to Babs?" Dick finished with a smirk on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Timmy and Jason told me about a conversation he must have over heard you and Babs having when you two were babysitting him. So you, Babs, and Bette are in some crazy love triangle?" he asked with a lazy smirk on his face.

Artemis doesn't blush. She doesn't. There are only rare moments when she gets caught between a rock and a hard place when all of the sudden her face flares up and she realizes the mess that she's in. Like this moment, for example. Her face must have been quite a sight. She could actually _feel_ the burning in her cheeks.

"Well…"

_The truth is that they are actually Batgirl, and I know about it, and we had to talk about it in your house, but Timmy and Jason were there, so we couldn't really come out and just talk about it, so we talked in code, but it was an awkward code—you can blame Babs for that—and it just happened to come across that we were making references to me, Babs, and Bette having a personal relationship when in all actuality we were talking in code about how Bette is also Batgirl. _

Babs laughed, "Then it worked?"

_What?_

Barbara looked at Artemis as if she was expecting something, but Artemis just stared at her. Artemis blinked a couple times in response before she took the clue that Artemis was completely lost. As usual. "Remember, we said that cause we knew Jason was staying up even though we told him to go asleep. He tried to act like he was asleep on Artemis. It was to mess with him."

Oh. She was lying.

Artemis isn't good at lying.

Babs is good at lying.

"Yes," Artemis said, not really realizing that it was a completely wrong response to what was being said. "I mean—he wouldn't get off of me, and it wasn't like I was going to sleep in his bed with him because that would be creep considering he's like eleven and such…" Artemis voice slowly got quieter as she droned on.

"I love it when you tell stories, Artemis. This is almost as good as your spelling bee story," he teased.

Artemis glared at him before elbowing him in the side. "Spousal abuse," he mumbled and rubbed his side.

"Okay!" the teacher called out. "I hope you all discussed good conversations to have as a family—"

"_Fuck_."

"Now only French for the next twenty five minutes—"

"_Fuck_."

"I will grade you down for any English used. Only French, go."

The teacher started the timer and everything in the room just went quiet. All of the families just stared at each other waiting for one person to take the first move. Finally, one group started talking and everyone else followed suit.

Bette coughed a bit, "_Can you pass the hummus, Mom?_"

Artemis glared, "_No, you are gaining weight. You eat nothing._"

Dick took Artemis' hand, "_Honey, please don't do this. Bette needs the hummus._"

Artemis yanked her hand out of his grasp, "_You know what we need? A divorce!" _

Bette leaned over to Babs to whisper in her ear, _"Oooh, rejected._"

"_Honey, please,_" Dick interjected.

"_No, I know about you cheating._"

"_…What?_"

Artemis pointed towards Barbara, "_She has red hair! Do I have red hair?_"

"_Well, sometimes when it's wet and in the sunlight it tends to have a reddish tinge—_" he tried to finish his sentence before Artemis slapped him straight across the face.

_"Whore!_" she shouted and jumped out of her chair.

"_That doesn't even make sense considering you gave birth to her! You cheated on me!_" he jumped out of his chair to stand next to Artemis.

_Oh god_. He was gaining on her. One more growth spurt and he would be just as tall.

"_That makes no sense_."

"_You gave birth to her—how would that be a result of me cheating?_"

"_So you admit it!_"

"_It was…Wally,_" Dick admitted.

Artemis gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth before having to use the chair, "_I want a divorce_."

"_First, who is her father?_"

Artemis paused before sitting back down in her chair and ate some of the hummus, "_Her father…her father is Barbara._"

Bette gasped and stuffed her mouth full of chips, "_Plot twist…_"

Dick sighed and sat down back in his chair, "_It all seems to make sense now._"

"_I am my father?_"

"_I figured that, that was the truth, but to hear that come out of the mouth of my lover. It hurts more than I could of imagined,_" Dick sighed and took Artemis' hands once again. "_I love you, but this bastard child displeases me. Forgive me, Artemis._"

"_It is too late, Dick. I have filed for the divorce,_" Artemis sighed and pulled Dick forward. They rested their foreheads together and stared into each other's eyes. She stroked his face, "_Dick, you…are adopted._"

He let out a sob and a couple tears trailed down his face, "_Artemis…you're a clone._"

She cries out, "_Oh God, I can feel my inner angst building up!_"

Oh look. Another joke that won't be relevant for another month.

"_That's it!_" Bette shouted out. She quickly got up out of her chair and flipped the desk over. _"I am getting emancipated!_"

Artemis gasped before shooting up herself and flipping her own desk, "_I will not stand for this! You are not allowed to have anymore hummus!_" Artemis grabs the hummus and starts eating it with her fingers considering the chips had been flipped off the table in all the commotion.

Dick grasped onto Artemis arm, "_Artemis, don't do this!_"

"_It doesn't matter. I don't even understand most of what you are saying,_" Bette shouted before flipping Barbara's desk—which seemed to have a Barbara still in it.

Dick got up and flipped his desk_,_ "_Bette, you will not treat the Bastard Child that way!_"

"_That's it! I am leaving,_" Artemis said before turning her back to the rest of her 'family'. "_I will send the divorce papers in the mail_."

Dick immediately flung himself to the floor and latched onto Artemis' feet, "_You cannot leave me, Artemis. I love you."_

"_You should of thought of that before you cheated on me with Wally._"

The timer for the twenty minutes went off and the family just looked at each other along with the rest of the classroom and the teacher. "I really hope this isn't what most of your family dinners are like…" the teacher muttered while writing some critiques on her board.

Artemis snorted, "Don't worry—his parents don't argue like that cause they're dead."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Sorry it took me a while to update. I was watched all of FMA: B. Um, so I have a really blunt and even raunchy sense of humor. I apologize that if anyone was offended, but remember, Artemis and Dick are friends. Friends make jokes like that. My friends make jokes like that to me and vice versa. It's normal to me. Again, sorry if anyone was offended. This takes place during _Performance. _Please review!  
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Acrobats

Artemis stared at the poster a little while longer.

_The Flying Graysons._

Artemis…hadn't put it together until this moment. She knew Dick used to be in a circus, so he might have some connections to being back in one, but she didn't think that this was the _exact_ circus that he used to be in. Of course, it was.

Artemis was starting to think that it was less of a mission that Batman had put them on and maybe something else entirely. Of course, she couldn't really vocalize that point because she couldn't really risk Robin's identity getting out—especially in a place so close to home.

The weather was _cold_ to say the least.

She was actually starting to miss the Gotham weather.

"What are you staring at, Diane?"

_Fuck_.

The last person she wanted approaching her and asking her about the poster that was right in front of her that could lead to her going off on a rambling lie about how that poster is connected to Dick Grayson who is kinda that kid that it their teammate, but she obviously has no clue about that even though she is "dating" the kid.

Yes.

She was not at all pleased with Roy's sudden appearance.

She nearly spat out _What does it look like Harper? _but she then realized that she was looking at a poster of her "boyfriend's" dead family unit. She couldn't be pissed at Roy's untimely arrival; she had to be sad. "Just reminds me of Gotham," she answered.

"You me your boyfriend?"

_Goddamn it cheeks. I swear to God if you don't blush and look flustered in these next couple moments I will get you stuffed full of jellyfish toxin so you will never be able to move again. _

Thankfully, her inner panic helped fuel her cheeks to turn bright red.

"Kinda."

_What kind of answer is that? It was a yes or no question and you gave him _kinda_ now he's gonna question—_

"You and Dick having troubles?"

_—your relationship. _

Artemis shook her head, "Nah, it's just when we're out of school I never seen him a lot." _Huh, that was actually a decent lie. Dick's acting training is finally coming in handy._ "We kinda hit a rough spot." _Kinda. Why do I always say kinda?_

"That's why relationships suck," Roy added with a cheeky grin and took a sip of his hot chocolate.

Artemis raised an eyebrow, "And when did you get all loner on relationships?"

"Don't change the subject."

"I wasn't the one who changed it, _Harper._"

"What subject are you guys talking about?"

Oh my God.

If Artemis was mad about Roy coming up to her, she didn't even know how to _start_ explaining why she was so angry when Robin walked up to them.

"Just her boyfriend."

_Harper, I will castrate you tonight so you will never have to worry about relationships again. _

"Oh," Robin grinned like this was the most freaking hilarious situation ever. Like it was some kind of inside joke. Oh wait. It is. It is an inside joke with the both of them, but one of them doesn't know that the chick next to him knows about this certain inside joke because there is also another inside joke about them not knowing. Artemis hates these kind of complicated relationships. Did she just refer to her, Robin, and Roy situation as a relationship?

"Is that so?" Robin's grin couldn't get any wider than it was now.

Before Artemis could even say anything, Roy decided that he was better equipped to answer the question, "She's having relationship problems."

"_Really now?_"

Artemis was going to castrate Robin later too.

Superboy is going to be the only one on the Team who is going to be allowed to procreate because of his attractiveness—and she guessed that Kaldur gets a pass for being incredibly kind and loving.

Can clones have kids?

"Yeah, listen, I think M'gann might need some hot chocolate. I think she—"

She tried to make a run for it, but Robin caught her shoulder. "What kind of relationship problems, Arty? I bet I can help."

_You can help by getting the fuck out of the way._ "He's just not around too much anymore. He's always gone," she grumbled, trying not to sound _too_ bitter about the whole ordeal.

Robin feigned a frown, "Well, if that's the case, then maybe you should make yourself more of a presence in his life." He then put a thumb to his chin and rubbed like he was thinking. "Maybe you should go over to his house for dinner. I'm sure his family would love to see more of you."

_I'm sure my family would love to get their hands on you._

"I guess that's a good idea. Thanks, Robin. I better go get this soup to M—I mean Dawn and Dane."

"You mean Dean?"

"Same thing."

"Actually," Roy took both of her cups out of her hands and gave her a cheeky grin, "I can take these to Dawn and Dane. Bye, Diane."

"Nice poster, huh?" his smirk was teasing, but it was also a bit sad.

"Bats didn't send us on this mission, did he?"

"So he might not know about this…"

On that, Artemis nearly choked, "_What_? Then how did you get these costumes?"

"Come on, Diane. I can sow."

Artemis just gave him a stern look for that.

Robin has decided that some nights, when he doesn't feel like going to the back to the batcave and he just happens to get a rip in his suit or a minor injury that he'll just stop at Artemis house. He likes to make sure that Artemis is sleep deprived because he's Dick Grayson. He likes to go through her window and there he will tend to his wounds while Artemis will quickly stitch up his costume.

According to him, she was only beat by Alfred in the art of quick fixing costumes.

It was an acquired trait, of course. Unlike most of the other sidekicks—partners, _whatever_—she didn't start out with a mentor to fund a costume. She made hers on her own and she knew how to maintain it even now after she got a mentor. Fixing a costume was actually pretty calming—except for the fact that Robin would be rambling on and on about his patrol as she would patch his cape or tights. His rambling tended to be on the whining side too—_"Batman and Catwoman are at it again, ugh," _or _"Bruce is gonna make me get another round of shots just because Crock managed to bite me," _or _"Batgirl was out tonight. She told me I was getting chubby. I'm not chubby, right Artemis?" _

So, when Robin tried to sell it to her that _he_ had done these outfits, she nearly outright laughed at him.

He stared up at the poster one last time before turning to her, "You know what would be fun?"

"What?"

Artemis regrets that.

"I'm not going up there."

Her feet were planted firmly in the ground as the rest of the Team surrounded her—_cornered her. _Roy gave her a bit of a nudge, "Come on, Diane."

She turned to glare at the older archer, "No. I don't do heights."

Almost everyone in the group snorted at her claim as Robin swung down on the ladder so he was face to face with her—except he was upside down. "Just like you're afraid of caves?"

Artemis nearly punched his face in then and there.

Their school had had a field trip earlier that year and Artemis, being the lovely and responsible student, forgot to her permission slip signed—thankfully it did not cost anything; it was one of the pros to going to a rich school—so Artemis just forged her Mom's signature without even looking at the form.

It was a wrong move, to say the least.

The next day, she found out that the field trip to a cave.

Artemis sorta, kinda has a fear of being underground.

One of the TV shows that she had watched when growing up was _Ripley's Believe It or Not_, so she had seen her share of plenty of weird stories. The one that had always stuck in her mind was the one that was about a lady getting buried alive in her coffin and she had tried to claw her way out, but couldn't.

So, needless to say, Artemis is scared to death of getting buried alive, and being in a cave does not curb her fear in any way. Being under all that earth and dirt just felt wrong. It made her skin crawl in ways that just didn't feel natural.

She had also made the mistake of voicing this fear with Dick Grayson in close proximity.

Now he took every chance he could to point it out to her. He was quite found of mentioning that the mountain—their HQ—was in fact underneath quite a bit of dirt and could be considered a cave. She had smacked him with the magazine she had been reading when he mentioned that. That night, she had also made sure to close the window on his fingers when he was trying to get in—of course, she had bandaged them up for him. She was just that nice of teammate.

She is a perfect teammate, isn't she?

Her glare was about as threatening as she could make that was usually enough to make even Roy back off, but apparently it didn't faze Robin at all. He just hung there smirking like the little cheeky bastard he was. "Come on, _sis_. Just one time."

"Didn't _Mom_ ever tell you that you were adopted?"

"Did you actually just refer to Bats as _mom_?" Robin snorted out a laugh. "I will give you fifty bucks to accidentally call him mom or dad when we get back. An extra twenty if you call him mom," Dick wagered.

The Team had made the official decision that when they said _Mom_ they really meant Batman and when they said _Dad _they really were talking about Black Canary.

Lets face it—Black Canary would wear the pants in that relationship.

Artemis smirked and held out her hand, "Deal."

He gladly took her hand, but when he didn't let go, Artemis knew that she was either going to go up there with him or throw him to the ground and risk breaking something. If he broke something then she would probably have to fill his spot as an acrobat considering how none of the other had any flexibility or any training. At least Artemis had gymnastics as a bit of prep for the situation.

"No."

"Dean, would you please carry our sister up here? She is being difficult."

Artemis is planning on asking Green Arrow for some kryptonite when she gets back. Of course, for safety reasons and not for any other type of reason like putting Superboy in his place for slinging her over his shoulders and carrying her up the ladder. He set her down on the little plat form and went back down the ladder part way—it seemed to be a precautionary measure to make sure that Artemis didn't go back down.

Her eyes narrowed at Robin, "I hate you."

He just smirked back, "This is gonna be fun. Stop pouting, you're gonna get wrinkles." He pulled her to the edge of the small platform and made her stare at the ground. "You see? I made them put up a net, so even if you do fall everything is going to be alright."

"The last time I fell and there was a net, I sprained my knee and Bats wouldn't let me go on patrol in Gotham for a week."

Robin laughed, "He didn't let you go on patrol for a week because of what happened during the Halloween banquet."

Artemis raised an eyebrow, "Halloween banquet…" all of the sudden she paused. "Holy _shit_. I didn't put that together. He—fuck. No wonder Bats never liked me."

The Halloween Banquet that is held by Bruce Wayne every year as a charity event for quite a bit of orphanages around the city was probably the first time that Bruce Wayne realized that Dick's _girls_ were probably a bad influence on his son.

She swears it was Bette's idea to go to the party as Gotham City's Sirens.

"Bats…saw me dress up as Harley Quinn…"

"He said that if you take the criminals serious in Gotham that you couldn't fight them."

"No wonder Bats gave me dirty glares for a whole month after that," Artemis gaped and straightened herself up so she wasn't leaning over the side of the platform.

Robin just smirked, "Oh that's not the only thing that he has against you. He actually has a list."

"Oh..." Artemis muttered, "is that so?"

"Come on, sis. Just swing across it once for me?" Robin asked, completely changing the subject.

Artemis turned to face the huge gap between the two platforms and then back at the smaller boy. She let out a sigh, "I don't know, Dan."

"Look," he placed both of his hands on it and jumped off of the platform. Artemis gulped as she watched him swing across the huge gap. He didn't do anything fancy, he just landed on the next platform. He turned around and gave her a thumbs up.

She didn't return the gesture.

Then, he threw the bar back to her. Artemis reluctantly gripped onto the _thing. _She let out another sigh and stared at the bar in her hand. Why was she so scared? There was a net beneath her. She had done riskier things when she had gone out on patrol with Green Arrow before.

Why was she suddenly getting cold feet?

Her eyes glanced back up to the smiling Robin. He gave her another thumbs up and a dorky, little smile. Why did he want her to do this so bad? She took in a deep breath and finally pushed off.

It felt weird.

She was so used to in gymnastics where the bar is firm and not unmoving—besides the obvious give that it has to have—but _this_. This bar was entirely different from anything she had ever been on. To be honest, it kind of reminded her more of a grappling hook than anything else. It was a lot more free than regular gymnastics.

Well it would have been if it weren't for Roy being a douchebag.

"Archer girl!" his shout shook her out of whatever calm circus acrobat she was channeling. She let out a squeak and let go before she could make it to the other side of the arena.

Her back hit the net not more than a second later. She did a couple of bounces before settling into the net petrified looking back up at Robin. He jumped down off of the platform—mind you, he did a bunch of fancy little flips on the way down unlike Artemis who fell like a fish from an airplane. He made his way over to Artemis—doing more flips because he's an acrobat.

He kneeled next to Artemis. He gave her a skeptical look, "You're first instinct was to let go?"

She gave him a sheepish smile, "Sorry?"

He just rolled his eyes and threw himself on top of her, "You wanna go again?"

Instead of actually answering it, she just mumbled out some incoherent gibberish that sounded like a mix of French and Vietnamese.

Artemis did go again, in fact.

It took quite a bit of coaxing—_bribing_—on Robin's part, but he managed to get her to go back up there. He wasn't the son of Bruce Wayne for no reason. He was really persuasive and charismatic when he wanted to be, which was often.

Right now, most of the Team minus the smallest one were relaxing in their little train apartment. M'gann was sleeping on Conner while him, Roy, and Artemis had a _civil_ conversation. They were discussing if Kaldur really had the ability to talk to sea creatures, and if so, did he ever talk to a seahorse—okay, so maybe that's what _Artemis_ was curious about, but still.

"—I don't see how if he ever talked to a sea horse is relevant, Artemis."

"Shut it, Speedy. You're his boyfriend. Go ask him."

"We are not dating."

"You can come out, Roy. We're not gonna judge."

Roy just rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go get me some hot chocolate, Replacement, before I beat you."

"_Oooooh_, Speedy's gonna get me," Artemis teased, but got up anyway. Her legs were getting stiff anyway. She needed to walk for a bit, and maybe even check and see where Robin had head off. In the small café car she grabbed two hot chocolates and started to head back to her.

When she was going from a train car to theirs, she heard someone talking.

"—so Mom…Dad…you got to meet Artemis today. She's a really good friend. Her, Bette, and Babs are my best friends from GA. Bruce said it's weird that I only have girl friends, but they can be—_are_ some of the best friends sometimes. I'm glad Art's my friend. She—"

Artemis had to cover mouth from a choked out cry. She quickly made her way away from the scene. Her hands that were holding the cups of hot chocolate for her and Roy were shaking.

What she had just heard…

Artemis realized why he was so adamant on making her go on the trapeze.

_Oh God…_

Artemis found her way back onto the train and leaned against a wall. It didn't take her long to just slide down the wall and press her forehead against her knees to hide her face. To hide the fact that she was crying. She really didn't want to think about what she had just heard.

"What are you hiding from, Diane?" she didn't have to look up to identify the voice as Roy. The coy and cocky voice that could only be identified as the other archer.

She felt him slide down the wall to sit next to her, "Give me one of those." He took one of the hot chocolates and she listened to him sip it. "What are you angsting about?"

"I'm not in the mood, Dean."

"Dane."

"Shut it."

He took another obnoxious sip, "Nope."

"Just go."

He put an arm around her, "Can't do that, sis. Pops told me to watch over you."

She had a feeling that he wasn't talking Black Canary.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Crap chapter. It will be continued. Ignore it. Okay, um, I don't wanna be picky, but when you anonymous review could you not all use _guest _as your name? I'm slow...and I get confused...and people insult me...and compliment me...and they're all called guest...and never mind I didn't say anything just ignore me...So besides that. Thank you for reviewing and just reading my story and please review if you have the time!**

Meet and Greet

"We really shouldn't be eating this much food before the Meet," Barbara muttered.

"Says the girl who's scarfing down a milkshake and fries," Bette snorted and continued to shove food in her mouth too not even bothering to have the decency to cover her mouth when eating. For a girl who was supposed to be apart of Gotham's elite, she seemed to be lacking some social grace.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Artemis automatically corrected.

Bette just narrowed her eyes at Artemis, "Oh look, hi _mom._" She picked up her spoon and scooped up a bit of whip cream and flung it at Artemis. It landed right underneath her left eye.

Artemis reached up and wiped it off her cheek and ate it. She glanced around the small diner that they always go to before a gymnastics practice. It usually wasn't that busy except for the occasional old person couple and awkward teenager first date couple that had no idea where to go so they went to this run down dinner thinking it was a good idea.

Thankfully, Artemis, Bette, and Babs were neither of those.

The place was relatively full tonight—surprisingly. There was a bunch of old couples chatting it up and gossiping. Besides teenagers, old people are probably the most gossipy. That was proven as Artemis watched some old couples point fingers at her group of friends and promptly talk about the "oddly placed children."

Artemis didn't mind, though. Most of them couldn't hear a thing they said, so they were free to talk about anything they wanted.

_Anything_.

"So Artemis wants in," Babs prompted and stole some fries off of Artemis' plate.

Bette raised an eyebrow, "Artemis wants to be Batgirl too?"

Artemis nearly spat out her food at that—instead, she let the water she was drinking almost come out her nose. Bette just snorted and handed her a napkin. "Thanks," she muttered bitterly. After she cleaned up her face, she finally turned back to her supposed friends. "I don't want to be Batgirl."

Babs just smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Imagine three of us. There would be no way for Batman to pin us as being it."

Artemis just shook her head, "He's trained me. He's seen me fight. He would recognize my fighting in an instant. Then you guess what happens? I get kicked from my Team and you two probably get your butts kicked by Batman himself for being untrained."

"You wouldn't sell us out."

Artemis just snorted, "Ha. Ha. It's nice to know you guys actually think that highly of me. Nope, I would sell you out in an instant if it came down to Bats actually trying to talk to you about it. I would get in as much trouble as it is actually _encouraging_ you guys; I don't need to be in trouble for also not telling him whom you two are. Although, it is only a matter of time before he figures out who Batgirl really is," Artemis admitted and poured some ketchup and mustard on her plate and mixed them together to dip the French fries.

Bette wrinkled her nose, "That's disgusting."

"It's classy."

"Half-Asian, blonde mutant."

"Rich blonde skank."

"As much as I love you two trying to demoralize each other, shouldn't we get going? We're gonna be late for the Meet and Mrs. Cree is pregnant," Babs pointed out.

Both of the girls nodded, "Don't make pregnant people mad."

"Big no-no."

Bette paid for the meal while Artemis left the tip. They usually rotated who paid for their meals every time so it was an equal trade—although, Dick was the one who funded all of them with money.

Dick was very…_flippant_ with his money. The girls really didn't even ask him for money most of the time, he just gave it to them. He claimed it was "payment for being his friend", but they knew that was just a load of bullshit. He didn't really give the money to Bette as much as he did to Artemis and Barbara. He would just leave the money for them in the most random places. Artemis started to notice it happen when she would miraculously always have a twenty-dollar bill in her purse after she had just spent it.

Of course, Artemis _tried _to return it. The key word _tried._ He wouldn't take it back, or sometimes he would take it back and just give it back to her in some other way. It made her feel like a charity case—even though Dick was arguably one too. She would much rather steal or borrow the money from him than actually just have him give it to her. Maybe it was a pride thing or something…

Maybe for him it was a Bat thing.

There was no other way for them to show their affection and love so they just bought stuff for others. Is that what it is like at Wayne manor? Does Bruce not really know how to say good job to Dick when he does something right on a mission so he just _gets_ him something?

In all the times she has gone to Wayne Manor she has never really seem more than a glance between the two. They don't really talk and she has never witnessed a reassuring touch or _anything. _At least her parents would hug her—hell, her Dad would even pat her on the shoulder when she did something good.

Dick and even Robin always seemed to be quite physical when it came to displaying affection whether it is just a casual grab of the arm, the playing with the hair, sitting on top of people, or just a hug. He always went for the more physical side of it and maybe that was because he didn't get that at home so he was trying to make up for it with other people. Then there was also the money thing that he assumingly developed from Bruce, and those were his only ways of displaying affection—or at least the only ways he knew how. The way he knew and the way he craved.

What.

Artemis thinks that she would do swell as being a therapist one day.

She's already gone through enough emotional trauma in her life why not try and solve some more?

They all got into Bette's car and started off towards Artemis' apartment because she just so happened to forget to bring her leotard. Bette was about ready to make Artemis just go naked for the meet, she was so irritated. Of course, she made Artemis pay a fee for having to take a different route and waste Bette's gas.

Lovely friends, as always.

Artemis just paid her the five dollars, and they went up to her apartment—Bette and Babs trailing behind like the groupies they were.

Artemis was about to make a joke about Artemis being the pimp and Babs' and Bette being her whores when she heard something—no _someone_ talking behind the door that wasn't her mother.

Was her Mom on a date? Did she have a _guy_ over?

Artemis pressed her ear to the door to try and hear more as she held up a hand to silence Bette and Babs.

"—and so he's convinced that Artemis might be dating Babs or Bette. And then there's the fact that she's dating his son and I didn't even know that. I don't know anything about Artemis' life. I feel so out of the loop. Does this normally happen with teenagers? This happened with Roy, but he was always so _ugh_, so I thought it was just me. Dinah says I overreact when it comes to the kids and she says to let her take over. But then Artemis comes along and I'm like her awkward fatherly figure—or is that Bats—and I don't know what's going on with her life? What if they're all dating each other, Paula? Is polygamy legal, Paula? What's going on?"

Oh. _Oh._

Oliver Queen was in her living room trying to figure out if she was dating Babs, Bette, or Dick.

For some reason, Artemis just isn't surprised.

Artemis just opens the door to her apartment and a wide-eyed Oliver Queen stared at her. He was sitting on the coffee table while her mother was sitting on the couch. The TV was on _Wheel of Fortune_. Paula locked over Ollie's shoulder to see the puzzle, "_To jump the moon,_" her mother finished the puzzle.

Her mother should really go on that show.

Paula sipped her tea one more time before lazily looking at Artemis, "Are you dating Babs or Bette?"

Artemis looked back at the two girls behind her. "No."

"See, Ollie, you and Bruce need to stop your billionaire gossiping."

Ollie gaped for a second before collection himself, "You're right, Paula."

"As always, can you ask Dinah if she would like to come over to watch _Design Star _tonight?"

"Sure thing, Paula." Ollie got up and glanced at the girls. "You're really not doing anything?"

Artemis just laughed, "No, Ollie."

He sighed, "What are you guys doing?"

"I have to pick up my leotard for the gymnastics meet today."

"You're in…_gymnastics_?"

Her mom quickly shot her a bunch of warning looks, clearly saying, _Honey, please don't make the man any more insecure than he already is._

Artemis smiled, "I just joined, actually," she quickly lied. "We have a couple of meets after Winter break if you want to come to one," she offered, trying to make the man feel at least a bit better. "I'll see you at the New Years party, right?"

Ollie sighed and nodded before leaving. After that, Artemis quickly got her leotard and walked out the door. Ollie felt the need to connect with Artemis because of what happened between him and Roy and so when he felt like there was any sort of disconnect he would get the info from whatever source he could.

_Whatever source._

It was adorable, though. Ollie in general was adorable. He was just a flustered man trying to be a father. Artemis would love to see how he would respond to actually having a son.

"So who was that guy?" Babs asked as they got into Bette's car.

"You remember Roy?"

"You mean the most attractive redhead I have ever seen?"

"Um, _sure. _Well that was his dad—my Uncle."

"Wait…you and Angstable Red are _related?_"

"He's adopted."

"Well, at least it's not incest anymore," Bette said with a smirk, probably referring to some crazy ass plan that was formulating in her head. Artemis didn't want to know what Bette was thinking of. It was probably to weird for Artemis to even comprehend.

Unfortunately, Bette might be able to act out those plans earlier than she had hoped because some _douchebag_ decided it would be okay to invite Roy and Wally to her first gymnastic meet.

She was going to kill Dick Grayson.

Like _literally_.

Screw Batman and being a hero and all that shit, she was going to strangle his tiny, acrobatic neck and just kill him.

Standing next to Dick Grayson was Kid Jackass and Speedy Mk. I. Wally was busy texting on his phone while Roy and Dick were chatting it up. Artemis narrowed her eyes. "How mad do you think Coach would be if I skipped?"

"She's preggo, so…"

Artemis huffed, "I'm gonna kill Dick."

Babs smirked, "Aren't you two '_dating'_, though?"

"That just gives me more permission to beat the shit out of him."

Wally looked up from his phone and stared opened mouth at Artemis for a second, "What is the Arte-whore doing here?" he asked.

Artemis narrowed her eyes, "I'm apart of the gymnastics team, _West_."

He just snorted at that, "You mean the girl who's about as flexible as a Popsicle stick is apart of the gymnastics team?"

"That's the best comeback you could come up with? I'm really disappointed."

"I would try harder, but I'm too busy hating you."

"At least I'm able to think over my hatred of you unlike some people."

"_Guys,_" Dick basically flailed his arms around like a little penguin. "Can you two not argue for five seconds?"

"Well maybe if Artemis wasn't so judgmental."

"Since when am I judgmental?"

"You complain about mine and Roy's red hair."

"Well, that's common sense. You don't trust people who don't have souls."

"That joke is so old, Art. You should really think of new material. You pull that one out of your ass every time we see you."

"At least I have something to comeback with unlike some other people. Are you really that _slow_?"

Wally just narrowed his eyes at her, "What."

"Yeah, you're a bit on the slow side. Did you understand that, West? Or do I have to say it a bit…_slower_?"

"I will kill you."

"Slowly, right?"

"Why don't we just go get changed," Babs tugged Artemis away from the glaring match she was having with Wally. "Are you always that hostile with him?" she asked once they entered the school.

Artemis just narrowed her eyes while the fleeted away. "Usually more so. Someone must have finally put him on sedatives."

Bette just smirked, "Whatever you say, Crockpot."

Oh no.

Bette was giving her that look.

"No way in hell, Kane," Artemis snapped back as they walked down the empty school hallway towards the girls' locker room to change.

"Sorry, but _yes._ The sexual tension was _oozing_ off of you two. I'm surprised you guys haven't jumped each other yet," Bette admitted casually while playing with her pockets.

Artemis nearly stopped cold in her steps. "No. _Ew._ Just because two people have—_ahem_—sexual tension does not mean they would be a good couple. We argue all the time, which also does not make a good couple. Just because we might have some awesome hate sex does not mean that in anyway we should be together."

"You just admitted that you would have awesome hate sex."

"You completely missed the entire point of my monologue."

"I'm a teenager, we kinda do that a lot. If you didn't know, of course."

"Oh, I didn't know because I'm not really a teenager."

"Figured that much."

"Oh did you?"

"Well, of course."

"Aren't you just a smarty pants?"

"You know, with what you said in that lovely monologue—which I happened to pay attention to, of course—you happened to mention that anyone with sexual tension would have awesome sex."

"I don't think I ever said that."

"Nope, you did. I was there, you were there, Babs was there, but it seems that you forgot."

"Go home, Bette."

"Nope. I'm afraid it's my job to set you on the right path."

"_Ha,_ right path."

"Excuse me?"

The Girls went on assaulting each other with multiple quips and attacks on each other's personality traits because that's what a true friend would do. They were in the locker room changing when Artemis received a text from Dick.

Artemis was surprised at all the swear words she knew in various languages. "I fucking hate you, Bette."

Bette looked up from trying to shimmy into her leotard. It was a bit wet and when the leotards are any bit wet, they are just an absolute pain to try and put on. "What?" she asked.

Artemis threw her the phone and Bette broke out laughing.

_You guys do realize we were behind you the entire time?_


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Will you guys please read this one? **

**I just want to say thank you for everything you guys have done for me. You have read my story. You have favorited. You have reviewed. And all of that I am extremely grateful for. This story started out as something stupid and silly, but you guys liked it. And I just want to thank everyone for everything.  
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**Now, as some of you might notice, this story has reached 300 reviews and I want to do something for you guys. I would appreciate ideas. I was thinking of randomly picking three people and give them one-shots at my expense, but that only pleases them and not everyone. So please leave me what you think I should do. I bet none of you are reading this. That's okay...I'm just gonna cry...  
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The Moth to the Flame

Artemis was pretty sure that one of these days that she was going to end up cracking her skull against her desk one of these days.

It was hard staying awake during English class. Like _really_ hard.

It was probably just the class. There was something about English that bothered her to no end. It just seemed to be such simple information that they had to get tested on. Artemis knew where commas were supposed to go, so why did they have to spend two weeks doing the same thing over and over again. It was common sense. Most of what they did was just common sense that everyone in class knew and yet they still went over it…again…and again…and again.

Don't even get her started on how much wasted time they spend on semicolons.

The sad thing was that even though they all knew what was going on that the students couldn't just doze off or not pay attention because here at Gotham Academy you get graded on how good you are at paying attention.

Maybe that was why Artemis was failing.

At Gotham North you didn't even have to go to school to even go to school to pass the classes. It was nice. Artemis usually skipped first hour and slept in and still managed to keep a good GPA. It would have been nice to be able to sleep in nowadays considering she didn't get home to two in the morning on most nights.

Also, at Gotham North, she could have at least slept during the classes.

Don't get Artemis wrong; Gotham Academy is a great school. It's very _nice_, but she misses Gotham North and it's easy ways. But Gotham Academy had its perks. It was nicer. It had better teachers. It was one of the best college prep schools—even though Artemis doesn't really think she's gonna end up going to college considering she plans on doing hero-ing until the day she dies. It was nice.

But it was a Gotham school, which means that at least once a semester some super villain has to try and hold the school for ransom.

Barbara elbowed Artemis in the side to prevent her from falling asleep on her copy of _Grapes of Wrath_, "Long night?"

Artemis sighed and just about threw the book across the room. Their English teacher, Mrs. Cree, was currently late, which wasn't that big of a deal. She was probably using the passing time to go to the bathroom, you know, since she was pregnant and all. It was a common happening in Artemis' English class.

"I had a lot of _gymnastics_ to practice."

The girls had learned that using them dating to cover up for the fact of their hero-ing was just not going to work anymore, so they decided to use gymnastics as a cover instead. Or at least Barbara and Artemis decided that it was a better idea. Bette was still calling all of their hero-ing rendezvous things "dates". That was Bette though. Once Artemis' explained why Ollie thought that the three girls were dating, she wanted in.

Whatever that meant.

"I have some hot chocolate, if you think that would work," Babs picked up her nice looking mug and handed it to her. "How did you get through your first two hours?"

Artemis twisted the lid and took a sip. It was still hot. "I didn't. French was easier to make it through considering I have Dick making constant innuendos in French to keep me up. He also tried in Algebra II, but…um…I didn't last that long. I feel asleep while he was spraying me with his water bottle."

She was still slightly damp from the annoyance in second hour.

Babs laughed and looked at Artemis' back where there was a wet spot in the shape of a bat on her jacket. "I—" she was cut off when a man walked into the room. Artemis wasn't really paying attention. Her face was dug into her folded arms and she was trying to get some sleep since Babs seemed to finally stop asking questions and Mrs. Cree was busy being pregnant.

"Hey Art?"

"I'm sleeping."

"We don't have a sub today, right?"

"Nah, I saw Mrs. Cree earlier today." Artemis sorta, kinda may have had to turn in a paper that she had forgot to finish the night before, so she knew for a fact that Mrs. Cree is here.

"Then who is that guy?"

Artemis lifted her head to see the guy standing awkwardly at Mrs. Cree's desk. He pulled a USB out of his pocket and plugged it into the computer. He quickly did a couple of things on the computer and then went and stood next to the door.

"It's a merc," she mumbled. She could even see the outline of the gun in the guy's jacket. Other bulges and indentations indicated that there were numerous other concealed weapons.

Artemis sat up in her chair to get a better look at the man. She caught the sight of a communicator in his ear as he shuffled in front of the door. There were definitely more people here. It was a group attack. Most likely a hostage type situation. Artemis wouldn't be surprised if they sent half the kids out of the school so it would be easier to corral the kids and keep track.

In situations like this, Artemis is glad that she's had a different background than say Robin because she knows how the crook thinks and can think ahead of them. It was more than helpful in a lot of situations. Like the Red incident, Artemis could figure out where to escape in a room before Robin could even pull up the schematics to look.

There was a conveniently placed vent in the back of the classroom that happened to be in between her desk and Babs' desk. Artemis always tried to sit in the back of the classroom for this very reason—not that she thinks about escaping from the classroom. It's just a thing she automatically does since she was little. Scope a room for exits and make sure you're positioned near one. It's something her Dad taught her when she was little that she still does out of habit.

She also tries to save people out of habit.

_Go figure._

Her eyes locked with Babs, "Don't do _anything,_" she mouthed.

Artemis leaned back in her chair and started to unscrew the screws that kept the air vent in place. Barbara went all wide-eyed, but she didn't say anything.

"Who are you?" one of the kids up in the front of the class asked.

The man turned his attention from whatever was going on outside the door to the classroom. Artemis bit her lip and tried to undo the bolt as fast as she could. The guy raised an eyebrow at the kid before answering, "I'm your sub, okay?"

Like anyone was convinced with _that._

The subs at Gotham Academy were always super polite and sucking up to the students in hopes that the students will give them a good review, so that Gotham Academy would hire them again. Gotham Academy always pays the best to get the best teachers.

It makes Artemis want to consider being a teacher.

And then she remembers that kids don't like her and everything starts to get normal again.

The whole class started to look around at each other waiting for _someone_ to do something. _Anything._ The kids at Gotham Academy were far from stupid and more close to cautious. They live in Gotham. They have to be cautious and not stupid. Being stupid gets you killed.

About five kids take out their phones and start to text their parents or anyone. In retrospect it is a good idea to get help, but the man up front has eyes and he can easily see the five kids. Artemis wants to just shout out something about subtly to them, but she finishes with the bottom screw and moves to the top one.

Always do the hardest one to reach first. It will always come in handy later.

The merc walks down between the row that happens to be the row that separates Babs and Artemis. There's a kid about five seats in front of Babs with his phone under the table, texting. This isn't going to end well.

"What are you doing?" the merc asked. The kid—she thinks his name was Luca or something—looked up from his phone. "There's no phones in this classroom." He reached down and grabbed onto the kids hand and ripped it up. Artemis could swear she heard some sort of crack. "Now, lesson of the day, if there is a strange man in your classroom, do not draw attention to yourself. Don't try to be a hero."

It happened almost too fast for Artemis to even understand what happened.

Artemis hasn't had that happen to her since she was a little kid. One moment something was happening and the next a completely different situation was going on. Maybe it had to do that she was in such a different and volatile situation in a place where that was the last thing she expected.

One moment the guy was just holding the kid's arm and the next the kid had a hole in his hand and the merc had one of his guns out. The blood was splattered against most of the kids behind him. Artemis could feel some of the blood on her brow.

"Now, does anyone else have any questions? You all are gonna sit here quietly while I tell my boss that every thing is all good. No one has to get hurt as long as no one—"

Artemis managed to get the top screw off of the vent and popped the vent off. Its clattering against the floor was a lot louder than she had expected, but it did the trick in distracting the merc. "And what do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, sorry. Was my hero's complex kicking in? I hate it when it does that."

He narrowed his eyes at Artemis, "Don't be stupid, girl."

He stepped closer to her until he was just standing over her desk, "Cause you have that covered, right?" Artemis reached up, grabbed his collar, and yanked him down so his face slammed into her desk. She yanked his arm back far enough so that she heard the confirmation of a _pop_ that she dislocated his arm. All it took was a blow between the junction between the back of the head and neck to knock him out.

The room was silent as everyone just stared at Artemis, "We have to go through the vents to get outside. Luca, come here." Even though she said _we_ she really meant _them_. She wasn't going to leave everyone in the school without some sort of hope of getting free.

She wasn't kidding about her hero's complex.

Where had _that_ come from? But now that she thinks about it, she can tell that even though throughout her life being taught to just keep yourself alive that now it's starting to get rewritten as something else. Something more _heroic_ and less selfish.

It's weird thinking about yourself changing.

And now all Artemis can think about is tadpoles, which isn't really prudent as she's trying to stop Luca's hand from bleeding all over the place. She ripped off the bottom of her shirt and tied it tightly around his hand as the rest of her class started going through the vent to outside—hopefully.

Artemis didn't know whether to snort, laugh, or sigh when she saw that Barbara was helping guide their classmates into the vent. "There you go, Luca. Just be careful when crawling. You don't want to—"

Artemis was cut off by him pressing his lips against hers in a fast kiss, "Oh-god-you're-so-beautiful-and-you-saved-me-thank-you-Artemis," he stammers quickly before running to the vent and getting in.

Well that was new. That was usually a reaction that Superman or the Flash got—never Batman though. Oh god. Thinking about if a woman suddenly kissed Batman for saving her is extremely amusing and disgusting at the same time.

Hmph, she'd have to ask Dick if that's ever happened before.

Artemis sat there a bit stunned at what just happened, "Should I tell Dick about this?" Babs teased.

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Go."

"No."

"Babs, this isn't up for discussion. _Go._"

"I can handle myself."

"No."

"You're gonna go off and_ hero-it-up_ and I wanna go to. You're not the only one capable of saving a school."

"Batman is going to be here soon."

"So?"

"He's gonna put together who you are." _Dick's gonna put together who you are._

"Artemis—"

"_Chase. Come in. This is Mike. We need an update on the class you have. Chase. Chase, come in. We will be sending a team if you do not respond." _

Artemis and Barbara froze as they listened to the radio of the man who was down. They both locked eyes, "We have to go," Babs insisted.

Artemis nodded and tried to choke down the fact that she actually wanted Barbara with her. This was probably a school wide kidnapping that was actually decently planned. It wasn't going to be take down one guy and everything gets solved. It was going to be much more _difficult. _

Artemis just loves difficult stuff.

That's why she likes playing Majora's Mask because holy shit that game's difficult.

"I think we can hide in the ceiling. Give me a boost," Babs placed both of her hands on Artemis' shoulders.

She didn't really expect Artemis to throw her into the wall above the air vent. "Why—"

Artemis held up a finger to signal to be quiet. "If you want a secret identity then we have to make it seem like we got caught." Artemis punched the wall beside her and let out a little shriek. They made some more ruckus and then Artemis boosted Babs up so that she could lift up a ceiling tile so they could get into the ceiling. The both quickly went into the ceiling and put the tile back.

They crawled through the school's intricate almost attic like system until they figured they were far enough away from the classroom, so they could talk without worrying about being heard. "What do we do now?" Babs asked.

"We go get our costumes."

"What do you mean there's a couple of costumes in here already?" Killer Moth asked. He was pacing around the main office of the school waiting to hear back from all of the mercenaries that all of the select classrooms had been secured.

_"I don't know sir, but there's a guy knocked out in this classroom and it's probably the bat or something."_

Killer Moth let out a groan, "I thought we told the police to keep _him_ out of this."

"I guess we'll just have to solidify that example," Firefly said and left the room ignoring the protests of his '_mentor_'. He walked through the halls before he found a group of students being corralled by a couple of mercs. One of them spotted Firefly, "What's up?"

"I need a kid," he grabbed the nearest one, a boy probably in his freshman year, and took him to the nearest classroom with an outdoor access.

"W-what are you doing?" the kid stammered and nearly lost his footing as he got dragged through the halls.

"Sending a message," Firefly answered gruffly.

The lights of the police cars could be seen through the windows as they entered the classroom. Firefly threw the kid against a desk before he went to the teacher's desk and wrote a note on a piece of paper. He crumpled it up and put it in the kid's hand. Forcing his hand to be closed tight around the paper, "Is that the message?"

"No. You are."

Firefly took off his flamethrower and lit the kid on fire and pushed him out the window, not staying to listen to the police insist on him to give up.

Even though Killer Moth said this was that this was going to start their careers—be their foundation. Firefly knew this was more. This wasn't just a start. This was something way different.

Commissioner Gordon rushed forward through the crowd after the firefighters managed to put the boy out. There had so far been no progress with the kidnapping situation before this moment. Although, was a boy falling out of a second story window while on fire considered progress? A couple of the medic were trying to get the boy to sit up, but they were only met with a couple of screams of pain.

_"Oh god! My legs! Th-They can't—I can't move them!"_

His daughter was in there with the _monster_ who did this.

_His daughter._

He leaned down next to the boy and looked at the medics, "Is he gonna be okay?"

The medics let out a shaky sigh, "The burns are minor, but it appears he must have broken his legs on the fall."

The boy leaned back into the medics hold while panting, "Some new costume _freak_," he let out another scream as the medic moved his leg. "Told me to deliver a message."

He slowly uncurled his fist to reveal the untouched piece of paper. The Commissioner took it and quickly unraveled it.

_No more costumes._

"_Batman!_" he shouted and got up, nearly knocking the medics away. "_Where is Batman?"_

It didn't take long for the Caped Crusader to appear next to the commissioner, "What?"

"You aren't going in! I can't risk anymore kids getting hurt. There's already someone in there. They can take of it."

Batman just raised an eyebrow at that. Someone was already inside the school. There were two very obvious choices, Robin or Artemis. He knows for a fact that Robin has his utility belt and within that he was a spare costume, but he isn't exactly sure about Artemis.

He just hopes that they can take care of a situation like this and that they don't let anymore causalities happen because it's different when you know them. It isn't a normal hostage situation for them. Those are their friends and classmates in there a wrong move means that they will die.

They had to take care of the situation.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: I like how you guys are like _STFU and write_. So it seems you guys just want me to write. I can do that. But if you have any requests for a chapter or anything, just tell me. Like say you want more Roy. Just say _Giiiiiiiive meh Roooooooy_. I'll try to include a Roy chapter soon. Or if you want something to happen like a Winter Dance, just ask for it. I love you guys. You make me happy, so I want to make you happy. I do this by giving you a crappy filler chapter. So please review!**

Why Are There so Many Inner Monologues in This?

Why does Artemis always get stuck in small spaces with Bats?

It sorta kinda made sense on the Team since her and Robin were the smallest so why not send them into the super tiny spaces because they're the only ones that will probably fit. Except for those couple times when Artemis' hips are just a teensy bit too big and then she gets stuck and then Robin laughs at her and makes fun of her instead of helping her out because he's Robin, the Boy Wonder.

Emphasis on _Boy._

His maturity level was quite questionable at times—of course, he is _way_ more mature than a certain Kid Dork.

What was Artemis complaining about? Oh yeah, constantly being stuck in small spaces with Bats. It was bad, per say, but it just seemed like whenever anything bad happened when she was around Batgirl or Robin they somehow managed to draw Artemis towards a small space to hide in or something of the sort. Like for example, she is traveling through the ceiling system of Gotham Academy with Barbara Gordon—who is Batgirl in her spare time—while trying to look for the Sophomore hallway.

She has never been gladder that the sophomore lockers were on the second floor. She isn't exactly sure if there is a way for them to get to them though…

"Just remember. Stay on the bars. They might support us."

"That's very reassuring," Babs muttered from behind her.

"I was just saying. For such a rich school, it looks like these beams are made out of crap metal."

"That's because all the money went for the swimming pool."

"…I like swimming pools."

Barbara just laughed and followed after Artemis, "Do you even know where you're going?"

"…no."

"What do you mean no?"

"…no."

"Well, then why can't I look down?"

Artemis sighed and stopped crawling. "Because they'll see us." It almost felt like talking to a two year old that just didn't listen. A stubborn two year old. Was Artemis that bad when she first started crime fighting? Hmph, she'd have to ask Robin when she got out of this mess about that. She would ask other people, but Wally was too much of an ass to give her a correct answer, M'gann was too new to actually be able to judge her, Kal was too much of a good guy to insult her, and Roy and Conner were too busy being clones.

Yeah, newsflash, Roy is actually a _clone_.

As much as Artemis didn't really like Roy, he was still like a distant related cousin that you happen to like to hang out at wedding because everyone else is too stuck up to talk to you, but he'll talk to you because he's in the same underappreciated boat.

Except now, Roy decided that he didn't deserve to be in that boat because some kid whom Artemis doesn't even know happens to be the real version of himself and deserves to do whatever Roy does because he's not really Roy.

You know, Artemis really doesn't like the concept of clones.

A much more fairer word was twins. It was like they would be brothers or something. They are their own person. They can make their own decisions. They have their own life. _Clones_. Just the concept of the word doesn't make it seem like they are actually people. It's kinda demeaning. In no way is Superboy Superman, nor is Roy—_umm_, _well_—Roy_. _As she said, they are their own people.

Mostly everyone seems to understand this concept except for Roy.

He's just busy having a pity part for himself, and by a pity party, she means he's just beating himself up over the fact that the "real" Roy is _gone_, _missing_ and he has no idea where he is. He's convinced that the only reason he needs to do anything anymore is just find the real Roy.

Artemis…Artemis has a sinking feeling what will happens when—_if_ he finds him. Artemis doesn't know what it's like to be a clone, but Roy probably just feels like a copy. When he finds the original, he'll probably think who would want that copy?

And that's when Artemis starts to worry.

If asked about it, Artemis would say she didn't give a shit about Roy, but truth be told, Roy is that horribly, awkward cousin that she just loves bumping shoulders with while watching their fathers—or perhaps just _father_—get drunk out of his mind and start groping his friends.

"Are you done with your inner monologue? I had a point, but you seem to be too absorbed in whatever you're thinking about to actually listen to be," Artemis can actually hear the pout in her voice. It's kinda amusing, actually.

"Hmph?"

"I hate you sometimes."

"It's apart of my charm."

"Why can't we find some place that doesn't seem to be inhabited and look down?"

"We can't risk getting seen. You saw how brutal these people were with Luca. They'll mow us down if they know we're up here."

"So instead of saving people we are just going to journey through the ceiling of Gotham Academy?"

"Having a heroes complex is great. It's what causes people to become heroes, but it's also what kills them." Barbara seemed to finally go silent at that. Artemis recounts her words and sighs, "Sorry, that was a bit harsh, but this is _real_. This isn't some mugging. These are trained mercs that will take us out if given the chance. I can't let you die."

There's some strange part of her that wants to add _for Dick_ to end of that sentence, but she holds back.

"Art, I'm not a kid. I've been doing this for three months now."

"It's not enough."

"It won't ever be enough, but right now we gotta work with it."

And that's when Artemis freezes up because one day it won't be enough and then it won't matter and…it will be all her fault. She had a chance to tell Barbara that she wasn't cut out to be Batgirl. She had a chance to tell her that more training should be done. She had so many chances to do that kind of stuff and yet _she never did_.

All because she was too damn scared to lose Babs as a friend—she almost wants to laugh at the new set of irony that has risen up in this situation.

Everything is just so screwed up.

Artemis sighed, "Sorry, Babs. You're kinda right. I just—you understand why I'm cautious about this. I'm check where—"

"I'll do it," Babs cut her off. "I know all of the classrooms in this school. I have the map of the school memorized. You get lost every other week."

Artemis really hated it when Babs actually had a good point.

Artemis muttered something between _I hate you _and _just do it._ Thankfully they were over Mr. G's classroom, who has a free period during third hour, so there were no point for the mercs to be in there. It was a bit of a luck that they happened to over that. "Okay, we need to go forward two classrooms and then take a left. We should be pretty much over your locker."

"How do you remember that?" Artemis asked as they started to move forward.

"Photographic memory. It's helpful a lot of the time."

Artemis wishes that she had photographic memory. Or at least a good memory. Then maybe she would forget all the stuff that she does usually end up forgetting—which prescription drugs her mom needs, what type of apple is for cooking and which is for eating, when Bette's birthday is, her locker combination, what her Algebra test is over, and all sorts of crucial things like that.

Soon enough after crawling through the mess that were the cords that connected to the computer lab—Artemis is pretty sure she ripped some cords out—they arrived at her locker. Or at least they arrived at where Babs thought her locker was.

"Listen," Artemis started, "if anything happens, like someone sees me. Don't follow me."

Babs just smirks in response and gives her a thumbs up.

_Smart ass._

Artemis quickly checked for people before she removed the ceiling tile and jumped down. She actually was in front of her locker. Huh, maybe Babs does have a photographic memory. She quickly did her locker combination and opened her locker.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Number one thing to catching people, do not shout out; it just gives away your location and gives the other person warning. That's Artemis lesson of the day of how to not be an idiot. Now if only she could just get the bow that hidden in her gymnastics bag…

"I said, _what are you doing_?"

Artemis gulped and slowly turned around. "Uhm, well, _stuff_."

_Smooth Crock._

The merc just raised an eyebrow, "Stuff?"

"Stuff."

The merc looked in between being annoyed and amused at the girl. That looked didn't last long though as someone decided to crash the party.

_Oh my God._

_Did I just make a pun?_

_Note to self: Do _not_ hang out with Dick anymore._

Babs decided that she didn't really need to listen to Artemis even though she obviously more experienced and knew what she was talking about, but Babs must have better judgment. Most redheads happen to. _Please note that that was completely sarcastic._ Every redhead Artemis has ever met was a complete idiot. _Please note she is just basing that on Wally and Roy—and sometimes Barbara._

Artemis sometimes gets lost in her thought process.

Babs completely just decided to wrack up the schools damage bill and break through the ceiling to take the merc out. She choked him and he slumped to the floor. "I had that covered," Artemis insisted.

Babs rolled her eyes, "And stuff."

"_And stuff_."

"Just get your gear and let's go to my locker."

It was almost unnerving how much like a bat she was even without having any contact with them—besides the occasional Robin interaction. _Ew._ Artemis doesn't want to think about that. Bette talks about that _enough._

More on the issue of how pretty much everyone in their little group of friends is dating Dick in some form or another _later._

Artemis grabbed her stuff and shouldered the bag before they started running to Barbara's locker, which was on the other side of the second floor, so they weren't _too_ far away. There was also a lack of mercs in the hallways, and that was kinda suspicious. Artemis had a sneaking suspicion that they relocated all of the kids so it would be easier to keep track of them. Gotham Academy was too big of a school to try and contain the students in their classrooms.

That left only a couple areas where Artemis thinks they could relocate everyone: the cafeteria—although quite unlikely considering the huge windows, the gym, or the auditorium.

They slipped into the classroom adjacent to Babs' locker and put on their costumes. Artemis was decently surprised at the amount of protection that Babs managed to put in even though having to make the costume herself. It was probably the fact that her dad was apart of the cops that she knew how much protection needed against the idiots who dominate Gotham.

"So what do we do now?" Babs asked.

Artemis blinked a couple times, "Uh…"

"If you say stuff, I'm gonna kill you—and put your hair up. Everyone in the school will recognize your fluff of a mane."

Artemis reluctantly put her hair up. "I'm not usually the one who comes up with plans," she admitted and noted that Babs put on a different red haired wig before putting on her costume. Huh. Interesting.

"Well, where are all the kids?"

"Probably auditorium or gym. We should go there and then figure out what to do after that."

"That's it?" Barbara asked pulling down her cowl. "We just figure it out as we go?"

"Considering we have no idea who we are against, then _yeah_. We have to work as we go, but first," Artemis pulled her communicator out of her belt and put it in her ear. "Hey, M'gann?"

It took about a minute, but eventually she felt the buzzing and then, _"Hi Artemis! I'm in school, so I can't really talk long, but what's up?" _

"I need some help in Gotham. Some super criminal is overrunning my school. I don't think Bats can get in. Could you come and lend a hand? I think stealth is what we need."

_"Sure thing, Art! I just have to get out of history… Can Conner come too? He doesn't like being left behind." _

"Uhm, okay, sure. ETA?"

_"I should get there in twenty minutes. I'll call you when I'm outside your school. Wait! If I'm going to your school does that mean I get to meet this boy Wally and Roy cringe about?"_

"Maybe, M'gann. Thanks," she left her communicator on just in case anyone else tried to contact her. Barbara did a little gesture that Artemis could only actuate to asking what she was doing. "Calling for backup."

"I…get to meet some of your team?" it was hard not laughing at her expression. She was such a little fangirl. It was kinda adorable. Did Artemis have fangirls? Was there like an _Artemis is the Best Green Arrow Partner Ever _Club? There has to be. She was like super cool and stuff.

Dick would be the president.

Artemis just smirked, "Yep, so lets go to the auditorium first. I think—one sec, my comm is going off again."

"_Artemis, come in._"

Artemis froze at the voice. Why was Batman calling her? Stupid question. She was probably the only one in the building so far. And his son was stuck in here too, and if he was trying to reach her and not Dick… "Yes, sir?"

_"You're in Gotham Academy, correct." _

"Yes."

_"The police will not allow for any more support to go into the building so you're doing this alone. They have released half of the school, but are still keeping the other half hostage until the demands are met. You're job is to find the hostages and take out the main figureheads, which is most likely Firefly. Do not get seen. For every hero inside the building they will most likely kill a hostage. Use any method you can to not get seen. Copy." _

"Yes. A stealth mission, those always turn out great." With explosions.

She could almost hear Batman's glare on the other end of the line.

"Sorry. Any other advice?"

_"Just don't get seen. Also, do not get too close to Firefly. He will not pause to set you on fire."_

"Thank you, sir. I'll do my best."

The little buzzing of her link ended and she assumed that that must have meant that he disconnected. Artemis took a breath. _You're doing this alone._ He couldn't reach Robin then. It must be killing Batman not to just go into Gotham Academy to find where his son is. Same thing with Commissioner Gordon and Barbara. Same thing with her own Mom. Same thing with everyone else's parents. They all must feel helpless to just stand and hope that some teenage girl will save their children's lives.

No pressure, right?

"What's up?" Barbara asked bringing Artemis out of her thought process.

"Batman can't get in. We're doing this by ourselves. Oh, and we can't get seen, so I guess we have to crawl through the ceiling, _again._"

"You do realize that Gotham Academy has an attic?"

Artemis just narrowed her eyes at the girl, "You do realize I'm going to shoot you."

Babs just smirked and went to the closest vent in the room. To be honest, Artemis had no idea that there was an attic in Gotham Academy. She would have been still traveling through the ceiling tiles if it weren't for Babs.

The attic was cool, to say the least. It was a huge room that just seemed to cover all of Gotham Academy's four floors. There were some indentations that Artemis could only guess were where the cafeteria and gym. The place was full of old desks and other stuff that they must just store up here instead of actually getting a warehouse for it. "This place is cool," Artemis muttered.

"Yeah, pretty much no one knows about except the janitors. The auditorium should be right over here."

Artemis walked right through a spider web and squeaked really loud, _"Jesus!"_ she shouted and swatted at her face.

"Are you okay?"

"No spiders."

Babs just snorted and continued on. So Artemis may be kinda scared of spiders and their tendencies to crawl over everything you've ever loved. They are just demons in little compressed bodies. They like to go in your showers and drop on your hand and have you slip in the shower. Spiders are like the origin of all evil things and Artemis just doesn't like them.

The attic suddenly seemed a whole lot not cooler than it was a moment ago.

"Artemis?" Barbara called.

"Hm?" She went and stood next to Barbara. The nice thing about the auditorium was that there was a huge air walk that hung over it so that crew for the plays and stuff could manually fix the lights. It was going to be helpful for this. They both stepped onto the walk and looked down.

They both gasped and looked down at the auditorium.

"I—I think it's time to come up with a plan."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Guys. HA. You guys thought this was going to be dramatic. Okay, so, this is now into the _Timeskip Zone. _As you can tell, this is gonna be different than the show in that none of the couples are confirmed and eventually other stuff too. Thank you so much for reading and please review!**

**Side note: If anyone is an expert on Kate Kane (Batwoman) please PM me everything you know.  
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Colorblind

Sometimes, Artemis feels like a really bad person.

It isn't always her fault too. Some things just sorta happen in front of the wrong people and it makes the whole situation awkward. Like…mention clones in front of Roy—or even Superboy sometimes. Or perhaps mentioning Alton Brown in front of M'gann—just don't ask. Or the issue of family getting brought up in their little group of friends.

Holy mother of God.

She never realized how screwed all of her friends' families were. Dick was an obvious one, Babs' was a bit more complex, and Bette's was to the point where Artemis is actually confused what the heck is actually going on in that family. Dick and Babs' was actually not that hard to follow, but Bette's is to the point where Artemis wants to give up but Bette is her friend so one day she has to actually attempt to follow the issue that happens to be the entire Kane family.

Then there are times where Artemis knows that _holy mother of God that really shouldn't have happened in front of that person._

She feels that way a lot.

For example, falling in front of Dick Grayson is one of those instances where Artemis instantly feels bad for happening because _his parents kinda fell and died. _

Of course, Artemis tries to keep her falling to a minimum, but Artemis happens to have a special talent for giving Dick Grayson heart attacks.

Oh wait where was she. Oh yeah, on that catwalk thingy above the whole auditorium. The lights in the room were on and everything seemed just a little too bright. Artemis is pretty sure that if she were on the ground with the rest of the hostages that her eyes would have been burnt out or something crazy like that.

Although, the lights seemed to not be the main thing that would _burning_ people at the moment.

On stage were about sixty kids, all kneeling down like they were waiting for something. In front of the group there were two kneeling figures that were complete crisps. Completely burnt. Stuck in the form they died in.

She felt Babs inch herself closer to Artemis—whether out of comfort or out of just trying to get a better view, Artemis didn't really know. Artemis liked to think that she was some sort of comfort to Babs in these sort of hero-ing situations. Hopefully, she was even though Artemis herself felt quite sick.

"I count about sixty hostages on stage and about a hundred in the audience," Artemis murmured.

"How are they keeping the kids in the seats? I don't see any sort of restraints," Babs noted.

Artemis let out a shaky sigh and pointed to the edge of the stage, "You see the—_uhm_—_you know_."

She watched as the realization dawned over Babs' face, "Those _aren't_."

Artemis shook her head, "I think the bodies are too big to actually be…_students_. Or at least what's left of the bodies…"

Babs looked away and just closed her eyes, "That's _disgusting._"

"They're using fear to make sure the kids don't bolt. Brutal, but effective. We really need to come up with a plan soon," Artemis murmured as she watched Firefly pace around the stage. He seemed impatient and at the moment she was really wishing that she had done what Batman had told her to do and read the files he had given her on all of Gotham's rogues. Then she would at least know the weak points in his armor and the best way to take him out. Then she would actually be able to come up with a plan instead of just sitting on this little catwalk thing and panicking because those are her classmates down there.

Artemis knows it's wrong, but she feels more obliged to save them than citizens or anyone else. She knows them. She knows their families. She knows their friends. If they were to get hurt or die she would be forced to watch the repercussions and she just doesn't wanna be forced to watch something like that.

Is that considered selfish?

Is she trying to save people for the wrong reasons—

Now is _really _not the time for doing some soul searching. "If that's a military grade flamethrower—"

"It is," Babs put in.

"Uhm, okay. Well, it has a safety on the back of the trigger and then right underneath the fuel tanks. I should be able to hit them with one of my arrows and you—"

And this is when Artemis regrets not coming up with a plan earlier.

Artemis hears the distinct clink of someone loading up a gun. Before she does anything, she pushes Babs down, "_Down,_" she hisses and tries to move out of the way, but it's too late.

The bullet skates up her calf and goes straight through her thigh without stopping.

_A sniper._

Guns hurt. Bullets hurt. Everything just _hurts. _

It's almost like her leg is catching on fire because she feels an intense burning that runs up her leg and manifest in her thigh. The only good thing was the fact that her the bullet had enough inertia that it managed to go all the way out of her leg so she wouldn't have to worry about getting it out later. It was a sniper too, so she didn't really have to worry about another bullet to follow after the first one.

The thing that she did have to worry about was the kick back of the bullet. Most people know about how a gun has a kick back when shooting it, but what people don't always know is that the can bullets have a pretty big kick back too.

The bullet yanks her forward and straight off the catwalk.

After this, she was _soooo_ going to file a complaint against the school not having more bars up on the catwalk.

Anonymously, of course. She has a secret identity to uphold and all.

Barbara's reflexes are thankfully pretty fast and she reached out and grabbed onto Artemis hand. The straightening out of her leg sent another wave of heat through her body. "Let me go," Artemis orders.

They're just targets. It wasn't going to take too long for the sniper to reload his gun and aim again. And there they were, just sitting in the open. Everyone knows where her and Babs are. "I'm not going to just let you fall," she grunted and tried to pull Artemis up.

"I would rather die by falling than have us both die by getting shot."

Babs narrowed her eyes for a second, but then smirked, "Good idea."

And then she dropped Artemis.

You know, to be honest, Artemis didn't really expect Barbara to drop her when she said that. She thought that maybe Babs would hoist her up and then they would do some heroic crap, but apparently when you ask for something from Babs she gives it to you.

_Unfortunately. _

Artemis was always really hoping that her death would be something awesome and not just her falling. It didn't seem like a good way to go.

And this is where the guilt part finally comes in. Here she is falling to her death while all of her classmates are watching—while _Dick_ is watching.

To think that just a month ago he had opened up so much about his past and weaknesses about his family and her she was, _falling._ She can't even begin to imagine the sort of trauma that has to be tied to people falling for him and here Artemis is. Falling.

Leave it to Artemis to exploit the traumas of your life. That's what real friends do.

Wait, so Artemis is about to die and here she is thinking about Dick? There has got to be something the matter with that—

The initial yank gives Artemis whiplash and she knows she going to be feeling that for _days_.

It takes Artemis a moment to realize what exactly is going on. Thankfully, Artemis has felt the feeling of a grappling hook catch her around her waste before—long story that nearly gave Robin a heart attack—and she comes to the conclusion that Babs must have caught her with a grappling hook.

That little _troll_. She dropped her on purpose. She could have at least gave Artemis a heads up. _Oh hey. I'm gonna drop you and make it seem like you are gonna die, but don't worry. I'll catch you with my grappling hook. Don't think your last thoughts that just so happened to be about Dick, oddly enough. I will save you._

Artemis is going to beat that girl down after this. Even with the bullet wound, she was going to punch her in the face. _Hard._

Artemis manages to look up and see that Babs is basically hanging down from the other side of catwalk. Why did she catch her on an angle? Sure it'd be more comfortable to be caught at an angle but…_Artemis was going to swing._ Barbara was going to swing Artemis onto the stage.

Artemis doesn't like Babs.

Artemis makes a mental note that the next time they do this huge hero-ing thing that they will have to actually formulate a plan next time. Artemis doesn't think her heart can handle another one of these plans.

The fall onto the stage isn't too bad. The adrenaline thankfully eased the pain in her leg–only a bit, but it was enough for her to be able to move and do stuff. She knows it's going to an absolute pain when the initial kick and adrenaline wears off. She just can't stop moving, and then maybe it won't start. _Maybe._

The entire room pretty much goes quiet. The whole falling from the ceiling and just crashing into everybody usually has that kind of effect.

Artemis' face is pretty much in Dick's lap, which normally isn't too bad except for the fact that she's pretty sure that Firefly is right behind her and she doesn't really wanna die in Dick's lap. As fun as that would be, it is not really on her top priorities right now.

Her priority is to save all of her classmates, not let Barbara die, not let her secret identity get out—speaking of that, where was M'gann? She should be here by now. Gotham isn't that far from Happy Harbor. And also the whole _we-should-probably-be-sneaky-like-Solid-Snake-because-otherwise-they're-gonna-fuck-shit-up_ plan was kinda out the window. So it would be nice to have Superboy busting through the wall and taking Firefly out.

The one time she wants Superboy to break in, he's MIA.

_Of course. _

_ Just another day in the disappointing life of Artemis Crock. _

She can almost feel Dick's quirked look as she propped herself up—Artemis takes note that he in fact has burns on his right side and his right eyebrow is in fact gone. Never has she felt the need to sass and console him more than in this moment, but unfortunately, she's Artemis and he's Dick Grayson. And she'd much rather sass him, but she has no right to sass him. Unfortunately.

She quickly rolled and pulled out her bow and arrow and aimed it at Firefly.

"_Oh come on!_" Killer Moth groaned and slapped his face—well mask, but you get the idea. "I'm supposed to be the leader, so why are you aiming your bow at him?"

Um. Okay.

"You want me to shoot you?" Artemis asked.

She's pretty sure that Dick is about ready to break out of his binds and take them out himself, or at least that's what she's getting at since Dick is digging his knee into her foot. "Well of course!" Killer Moth huffs. "It's not like this wasn't my plan or anything," he grumbled.

To be honest, Artemis didn't even know that Killer Moth was here and she would have never guessed that he would have been a big part of anything. He was about as threatening as Condiment Man.

Well, it wasn't like she was going to not give the man what she wanted.

She launched the trick arrow at him and the net exploded out from the point of her arrow. It pinned Killer Moth to the ground. Artemis snorted because, you know, he was called Killer Moth, and she, you know, caught him with a net and Artemis is just really easily amused by those sorts of things, okay?

"That was a mistake."

Artemis believes she's mentioned this before, but she really doesn't like fire. She's never liked fire even from when she was a kid. When her dad told her that they needed to get a new stove, Artemis made sure that they got an electric one. Moral of the story, Artemis does not like fire.

_Huge ass flamethrowers_ also happen to be under the category of things she does not like_._

Artemis should make a list one of these days.

The fire narrowly missed her, but it wasn't like she could be happy about something like that. If the fire misses her than there's a good chance that the fire will end up hitting one of the students on stage. If only she had not gotten shot she would have been able to stay on the catwalk then maybe she would have been able to snipe from up there. Then she wouldn't have to worry about hostages getting caught in the crossfire.

Hopefully Babs would remember where she said that there were weak points in a flamethrower were because at this point, all Artemis is gonna focus on is making sure no one becomes cooked alive. Does that mean that she has to sacrifice herself to save her classmates?

At least she's on a stage for a type of final stand.

_Wait. _

So maybe this isn't going to be her most well thought out plan—_fuck_, this is probably the worst plan she's ever had—but it's better than nothing and it's better than getting charred in front of her classmates. Artemis shoots another trick arrow at the feet of Firefly. There's only three beeps before it completely destroys the floor of the theater. It crumples and causes everyone on stage to fall through to the underlying floor.

Yeah, so that plan wasn't the best and may have caused some collateral damage to well, _everyone, _but the main thing is that if it incapacitated Firefly for the moment so he wasn't killing anyone. Which was, well, pretty good, or at least good enough for Artemis.

Except, for the fact that Artemis was trapped too, which kinda sucked.

The board on her bad leg was causing her more pain than she thinks she's ever felt. The rush of adrenaline is finally gone and now all she feels is the stiffness and the constant stinging. The pain surges up her leg in strikes like it's following her nerves all the way through her body. So maybe this wasn't a good idea. Sure, she's pretty sure she knocked out Firefly, but the wood was on fire and most of the kids were stuck.

_Next time, think before shooting. _

It isn't a second later before she feels the schools sprinklers come back on.

_Oh yeah, I guess that's where Barbara went._

Artemis can barely feel Babs lifting her out of the rubble over the pain in her leg. "Come on, Art. Unless you want everyone finding out who you are, we have to go," Barbara whispered in her ear.

"I'm coming, Batgirl." Babs put an arm around her and they started running away from the wreckage. Artemis could at least see quite a lot of people getting out of the rubble and helping other people out as well.

"Already disabled Firefly's flamethrower and gave him a sedative, so all we need to do is get out of here and get you some help," Barbara led her down the hallway and to the closet where they had stashed their clothes. Artemis was having trouble really focusing and was it just her or was it getting pretty dark?

Barbara couldn't take the full on weight of Artemis and dropped her down to the ground and propped her against the lockers, "Art can you hear me?"

Artemis heard about maybe every other word of that. "We have to go to the clos—_et,_" Artemis hissed as Babs put pressure on her leg.

"No, I'm getting the police."

Artemis may be going into hypovolemia shock, but there is no way in _hell_ she is going to let Babs give up her secret identity just because she got shot in the leg. In reality, it probably would be a good idea to let Babs go and find help, but Artemis just got shot so letting her call the shots—pun not intended—is probably not the most brilliant idea in the world considering the huge amount of blood loss is probably clouding her judgment. But arguing with a bloodless Artemis is more trouble than it's worth. _Trust Barbara. _

The look that Artemis sent to Babs makes her sigh in exhasperation. "Go to the closet change and lock the door. I'll be right behind you," Artemis tells her.

Was Babs' hair always that red? "You expect me to leave you in the hallway?"

"_Go. _M'gann and Conner are here."

_Liar. _

The lenses of her Batgirl cowl narrowed and Artemis was slightly—okay, a lot more than just _slightly_—reminded of Batman. The sudden convulsion to confess all of the bad things she's ever done in her life is an accurate response to that, right?

So maybe before Artemis fainted should have at least made an attempt to find out if M'gann was actually there. Instead, she just slid even farther down the lockers. She was going to die because she sacrificed herself for Barbara's secret identity. Oh and because M'gann couldn't get out of her history class.

If she goes to hell, she's going to file a nicely worded complaint to God.

_"Artemis?"_

Never mind about the complaint, a thank you letter would be best right now.

_"Can you track me? The building should be safe for the police to come in now." _

_ "Yeah, you okay?" _

_ "Hurry." _

Artemis must have missed something because the next thing she knew Superboy was cradling her. "Artemis?" he asked and it all just sounded like he lost his tongue and was trying to say Christmas.

Artemis was going to blame that on the blood loss.

"Miss M…go to room 324…"

And with that Artemis was out.

When she finally came to, Artemis could smell the distinct smell that was _cave._ There was no mistaking the stanch smell of running water and underground…ness… That and that her hand was way to warm and wet for it to be normal. She doesn't have sweaty palms—that's Babs. _Wait. Babs._

She finally opened her eyes to confirm that she was in fact in a cave and she lolled her head to the side to see what was causing her hand to be abnormally wet and warm. "Robin?" she quested.

His face was resting in her open palm; it was turned away, but it was presumable that he was sleeping there. It was kinda cute that he fell asleep like that except for the fact that _he's drooling on her._ "Robin, you're drooling on me. I will push your face off of the bed if you don't stop."

No use. He was out cold.

Artemis sighed and pressed her fingers into the pressure point on his neck. Even in his sleep, the kid has better reflexes than most. His hand flings up and catches her wrist. It goes limp as he turns his head to look at her. His mask is still on—_good thing she called him Robin_—but it didn't hide the fact that he looked exhausted. He smiled lightly and nestled his face back into her palm, "Morning, Art."

"Where are we?" she asked.

He reluctantly sat up in his chair and stretched, "Congrats," he yawned, "you got a worse enough injury that you made it into the Batcave."

"_Yay._"

"You should be proud."

"Didn't you hear my _yay_?"

"I thought that was sarcasm."

"Never."

They paused for a second and Artemis was pretty sure that he was going to collapse back into her hand. "M'gann took Artemis Crock's place. Five points for managing to keep your secret identity, minus ten points for getting shot while doing it."

"Go home."

"Already there, but seriously. Kudos. Bats and I couldn't get in and it was a sure good thing that you were in there…_and Batgirl._"

Artemis nearly just about said, _Speaking of Batgirl, how is Babs?_

No wonder Batman doesn't trust her with their secret identities.

"It was weird. I let myself get captured along with Barbara—you know Barbara Gordon, the commissioner's daughter?—and I escape making sure that she'd stay there—"

"Which didn't do her any good."

Artemis raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean, _it didn't do her any good_?"

Dick folded his legs underneath him, "Once they found out that you escaped they set the room on fire."

Artemis doesn't even have to act confused anymore about Barbara. She's naturally confused. "_What?_ Is she okay?"

Dick nodded, "Quite a lot of burns on her legs and some cuts, but otherwise she's fine."

Well. Five points to Babs for _hurting herself_ to make sure it seemed like she actually got captured. "I shouldn't have left her alone…"

Dick just huffed and dropped his head back into her hand, "You okay, Robin?" she asked.

"You don't know what it was like to just have to sit…out there…while you…and Babs…" he whispered and dug his face into her palm as if to hide himself. "I'll just tell you later 'Mis."


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Ah. Sorry it took so long to update. Went to band camp and then Cedar Point. Back now, which is good. Thank you so much to Purrplegal98 and BlueBird722 for your Batwoman info! I can't wait to have me some Kate. This is the start of an underlying arc that's going to be continued almost throughout the story. Thank you so much for reading and please review!  
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A Pleasing Game

"So first we had fake sex and now we're having fake dates to make Bruce happy…?"

Dick just snorted, "The first was for Wally and Roy, remember?"

"Of course I remember, _Grayson_, but we wouldn't need to keep up this front if someone would just fess up."

"The only way Bruce would be okay with you knowing is if he were to suddenly adopt you."

"Is he really that into adopting kids?"

"_You have no idea._"

Artemis just laughed and waited to be seated at a table at some fancy restaurant that Dick managed to get them last minute reservations just by name dropping _Wayne._

As much as Bruce disapproved of their "relationship"—actually, it was kind of funny how much he disproved of it. Apparently, Dick gets an earful about it every time they end up coming home from patrol courtesy of Batman.

Artemis was a _bad_ influence on Dick.

Whether it be the way in which she manages to always finish her homework late or how she isn't always one-hundred percent into the training that Black Canary puts the Team through, Batman always finds a way in which Artemis could possibly corrupting his little bird. Most of the time it was basically just because she wasn't the _goddamn Batman _and thus she was apart of the corrupt world of nonjustice.

What? Artemis is only lying to Bruce and Dick about knowing who Batgirl is and helping Batgirl…there is also that thing with Talia that hasn't come up again yet…there's also that idea that she had that would put Babs in the clear…

She wasn't that bad of an influence if you don't count the stuff that she's doing behind the scenes.

That's how being a bad influence works, right? It has to be obvious otherwise it doesn't count because the other person doesn't know.

Although, what if Dick knows? That aspect of her friendship with Dick Grayson—or more so Robin—has always been hard. She was too used to not having a friend who happened to be Batman's protégé and could—and probably does—know everything about you. Her normal privacy was gone. If he wanted to find out about anything in her life, he could.

But would he? It all comes down if he understands that she needs a sense of privacy to feel secure—or if she were to push his trust far enough that he would have to.

"You know, Art, when trying to figure out what you're going to order, you should probably open up the menu. Unless you're secretly Supergirl and can read the menu without opening it, then don't let me stop you," Dick threw his hands up in the air as he mocked her.

"_Ha ha, _real funny, Grayson. I was actually just thinking about what type of food I want."

He raised an eyebrow, "Considering this is a Italian restaurant it shouldn't be too hard, but who am I to judge?"

"Well I was thinking whether I want pasta or…" she pursed her lips and tried to remember any other type of Italian food, but came up with nothing.

Dick raised an eyebrow, "You gonna continue that or…?" he mocked her.

"I'm going to sit on you."

"Well that escalated quickly."

"Don't be a butt."

"No need for name calling," he chided and Artemis finally opened up her menu and looked at it. Artemis liked food. She liked trying new food. She just didn't know what to pick. She usually just asks for recommendations from other people. Thankfully, Dick was there to help her out without too much teasing.

There was a pause in between them as they silently ate the food. Artemis was too hungry to actually start up a conversation and she'd much rather stuff her face with this pasta than have to answer questions that are on Dick's face. Artemis has gotten to the point of knowing when Dick has a crap ton of questions on his mind. Usually, he would just burst out his questions without a care, but when he really wanted them answered you could see him just go through every possible way he could propose the question and which one would get the best results.

Artemis watched as he arranged the ravioli on his plate like each was a well thought out plan and he was trying to decipher which one was the _best. _He crinkled his nose and finally picked one up and stuffed it in his mouth, "So Batgirl?"

_Wrong noodle. _"Hm?" she asked trying to seem as nonchalant—would that help in this situation to seem nonchalant? Or should she seem a bit more distraught about the whole Batgirl scenario? What was Dick looking for in her face—actually, more importantly, what was _Robin_ looking for in her face?

"You and her seemed to work pretty well together," he prodded.

"So? Her style isn't too difficult to work with. Besides, I'm adaptable—you know, assassino and stuff."

He seemed to be not at all impressed at her answer, "You know that's not what I meant." He pauses as if he was expecting her to suddenly confide in him all of her secrets. Then, he remembered that she was Artemis Crock and it needed some crazy life or death scenario to get her to expose all that she knows.

Oh God. What if he dangled her from a building? What if he starts using the Batman interrogation techniques on her?

"I mean," he finally continued, "Bruce has enough footage of you and her on patrol together numerous times and you haven't said one thing about that to B or even _me._"

She just shrugged, "It's not like she's a bad person or anything, Dick. She just wants to help and if I went off telling Bruce about her you know he's just gonna shut her down," she explained and tried not to seem as panicky as she was feeling because _holy God Dick is asking her about Batgirl who is actually Barbara Gordon and Bette Kane their best friends and she's lying to Robin, the Boy Wonder and he's so gonna end up catching her in this lie and she's gonna end up getting her hero-ing license revoked because Batman is gonna eat her. _

Yeah. She was panicking. Just a bit.

"You know B isn't happy about it. Like at all. There's nothing he holds more than trust and if you break the trust than you're nothing to him."

Artemis tried to ignore the obvious undertone to his words.

"Batgirl…she just wants to help," Artemis protested.

"Lots of people want to help, Artemis. Lots of people also die."

"Only in extreme cases, Dick."

"Yeah because Tyler was an extreme case," Dick abruptly snorted out. His face flushed bright red when he realized his words, "Oh God, sorry Art. I didn't mean it that way—"

She just waved it off, "It doesn't matter how you meant it. Tyler died and you know what? It was my fault and—"

"Artemis," Dick cut her off. "You did the best you could for the situation given."

She snorted, "Don't try and reassure me, Dick."

"There was one causality on our side."

"—there should have been none—"

Dick paused as he stared at her. Things tended to way heavily on Artemis shoulders. Maybe it had been implanted in her childhood with being so alone that there happened to be no one else to blame. It was just Artemis and her Dad.

When things went bad it was her fault.

It was a knee jerk thing that had been implanted in her a long time ago.

So when she heard that Tyler Manst was one of the _fear tactics_ they had used to keep everyone in the room in place it bothered her way more than she led on. It was almost like an irritating blowing on her shoulder that she can't just brush off.

_She should have been better. She should have been faster. She should have done _something.

"Drink your sparkling lemonade."

Artemis looked up at Dick finally. "What?"

He smirked and pushed her milkshake closer to her, "Stop pouting and drink."

"Dick…" she protested.

He shook his head and pushed the lemonade closer and picked up the glass and pushed it up to her lips, "See not that hard."

"Butt," she mumbled with the rim of the glass in her mouth but complied and started sipping at the lemonade.

"Not to try and up you or anything, but at least you did something," Dick mumbled as his brow knit together. "There you were getting shot and _falling_ and still trying to save everyone, but there I was just sitting there. I couldn't do anything. To just sit and watch…" he whispered and that's exactly how Artemis was feeling. All she was doing was watching. Watching as Dick obviously went through some sort of emotional turmoil. And here she was, unable to provide the necessary comfort because _she has no idea what the fuck to do in these sorts of situations._

Moments like this make her blame her father and also the Shadows to some degree. Maybe if she had had to deal with this growing up she would know how to comfort Dick without coming off like an insensitive asshole (there's a small part of her that chides that he's probably used to that because of Bruce, but she quickly quiets her inner rudeness). If she had gone to preschool and stepped on people's game boards or accidentally punched a kid who had tugged on her ponytail then maybe she would grasp the idea of comforting someone.

In the Shadows you either suck it up or die. It's pretty cut throat and simple, but in some sadistic way, it's effective.

Even her own father didn't want her to comfort him when he was hurt. You didn't acknowledge other people's pain in the Shadows and console them. It was unheard of.

Now, here Artemis is, in high school, with most of her friends having vigilante side lives, who need quite a large amount of consoling, and Artemis is incompetent in the fashion of helping other people. And you know what? _It absolutely sucks._ All of her friends are having issues and all she can do is smile and hope it passes over because she missed that crucial development in her childhood.

She just has to watch.

She has to watch as Dick deals with a not too pleasant home life, Babs with her sudden impulse to become a costume and now dealing with the huge ass package that is tied to that, Zantanna with her dad you know not being her dad anymore, Roy with his clone issues, Bette with her vigilante and family issues—

It almost makes her life with the Shadows seem laid back.

Artemis flagged down the waiter, "Let's go."

Dick smiled and almost instantly he understood what she was doing—

(that voice in her chided again about how he so easily read her and was able to understand her action while she was sitting across him flailing because she had no idea what to do)

"Let me call Al," he offered and reached down for his phone.

"Why don't we just walk?"

Dick smiled and put his hands back on the table. Whenever Dick smiled his ears quirked up a bit with his smile. Even though his ears were way to big for his face, it was cute. Hopefully, he would grow into his ears or God help him with the monkey comments he was going to receive for the rest of his life.

They left the diner without another word.

It was definitely chilly outside, but a lot better than what if had been in early years in Gotham. Artemis didn't mind the freezing temperature that was years before, but at least she didn't have to worry about getting frostbite now.

Jade's sweater dress and tights weren't helping the issue, though.

"So was this a fake date or you just getting me out to interrogate me…date?" Artemis asked.

Dick cracked a smile, "Was it that obvious?"

She smiled and nodded, "I was sure you were going to hold me from the window and threaten to throw me out if you didn't get the answers."

He tapped his chin, "Well, _Dick Grayson_ isn't about to hold you out windows, but I wouldn't put it past _Robin_."

"You know, that wasn't reassuring."

"It wasn't supposed to be."

"You know Ollie stopped by to ask me if I was dating Bette and or Babs?" Artemis brought up kicking a rock till it fell down in the street into a dark pile of snow.

Dick just smirked and stuffed his hands deeper in his pockets, "Is that so?"

"Is it just me or does the League gossip like a bunch of old women?"

Dick laughed, "You don't even know the half of it. The Green Lanterns spread rumors like it's their job and the Flash can't keep a keep a secret if the world depended on him."

Artemis nearly opened her mouth and said that Ollie wasn't too far off on her dating Babs and Bette because in some crazy messed up way they were. She almost stopped in her spot once she realized where her train of thought was heading.

In that moment Artemis realized that Ollie and Bruce weren't that far off from saying that their whole group were dating each other. All of them had some sort of relationship going with Dick. Babs and Bette both had the hormonal tension that is apparently between Batgirl and Robin. Bette even told her that there has been some interesting _interaction_ between Batgirl and Robin—as in Bette usually jumps Robin and Barbara has to deal with Robin thinking that it's okay to do the same to her.

Then, there was the whole super complicated fact that Artemis and Dick were "dating"—of course there weren't really any romantic implications behind that; there was just the fact that it was initially a lie to protect Bruce from finding out Artemis knows about their IDs. But then there was the fact Roy and Wally still think they're dating. Also, because of this whole fiasco Bruce Wayne—and Batman—pretty much doesn't like her. At all.

So basically, they were all dating Dick.

And using the rule of transversal—or whatever the fuck it was called, Artemis doesn't do math—since Artemis is dating Dick and Dick is dating Bette and Babs then Artemis is dating Bette and Babs.

Well that certainly is an interesting conclusion.

Artemis steals a side glance at Dick to see that he once again has that face as he considers what he's going to ask her next.

"Artemis…you would tell me if Barbara was Batgirl, right?" his voice was quiet and sheepish as they neared her apartment. It could only be a block away now.

Artemis almost lets herself answer with a joke, _You know, for this being a date and all, you sure like to talk about other girls, _but Dick's face stops her. There's something about the way his brows are brought together and the way he's biting his lip while looking up at her that stops her. It's just so _pure._

He's genuinely scared that she is keeping secrets from him.

There's no way she could directly lie at him in this moment, "There's no way that she could be Batgirl. You remember the whole kidnapping. Batgirl was still active…and well Babs wasn't."

Dick nodded, "I know it's just…how did Batgirl get into the school?"

"Uh…well…she told me she's been tracking what Firefly and Killer Moth have doing and I think she knew that they were going to attack then."

He didn't seem satisfied with the answer, "So she knew that they were going to plan a huge attack against a school and she didn't do _anything_? She could have gone to Bats!"

Artemis shrugged, "I think she wants to prove that she can do this on her own—without other people helping her."

Dick gulped and nodded, "Thanks, Art. Goodnight."

"Night, Dick," she gave him a hug before retreating up the steps to the front of her apartment building. She only had the knob halfway twisted when she heard Dick call out to her.

"You know what they say Art. _For every good reason you have to lie, there is a better reason for you to tell the truth._"


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Lol, fake angst is fun to write. I forgot how much I love writing Wally. I don't know if I've said this in an A/N yet, but I am deviating from canon in that none of the couples happened on the finale happened. So no Spitfire, Dick/Zee, or Kal/Rocket. Doesn't mean I won't hint at that kinda stuff, but no kissies (only Justice). This is in January, BTW. Hope that clears up confusion, SAGE OF WIND DRAGONS. Thank you so much for reading and please review!  
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Sleepover

Artemis hates people.

Well, it's more like she hates surprises.

Actually, let her make one more revision to the statement.

Artemis hates Wally West.

There's something about how cocky, sexist, and irritating that it just drives her up a wall to the point where she is ready to shove an arrow up his ass after castrating him with it. She reaches that point of annoyance quite often. Whether it be on a mission where he just won't sit still so they end up losing their secure position to his inability to _sit still_ or be during a training exercise that he doesn't take seriously because he's got the maturity level of a walrus during mating season—he's just _irritable_.

So Artemis likes to limit her time around him as much as possible otherwise she'll end up looking something similar to a female Lex Luthor. To make sure something like that _never_ happens, Artemis would prefer to only see Wally at required practices.

Seeing Wally at her school is one of those things that would help her go bald.

Bumping into Wally at her school would also make her go bald.

Fighting with Wally at her school is also not profitable.

_Wally in general_ at her school is not good for her hair.

So doing all four of those at once basically secured Artemis for going bald at an early age—hey, her and Superboy can do it together. It had been a wonderful Friday afternoon. She had managed to talk her teacher out of taking points off of her paper for being late and now she was going to go home and have a party. And by party, she meant go to Star City and train with Ollie because she had no homework and she was a free woman.

Then, she ran into Wally and _everything changed. _

She had been looking for Bette because she had offered during Chem to grab a quick meal before Artemis head off to Star City. It was supposed to be a nice day. Then, she literally ran into Wally West as he was presumably looking for Dick Grayson.

Her knee jerk reaction was to sucker punch him in the stomach.

_It was a good reaction._

He spun around and nearly knocked her over, but Artemis' assassin blood kicked in and helped her stay on her feet. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

He was seriously in her bubble now—would it be bad if she hit him again? "Oh, _I don't know_." She made a little gesture with her hands to the huge _Gotham Academy_ emblem on her jacket.

He narrowed his eyes, "You know, you don't have to be so sassy."

"It's in my _blood._"

"You're crazy assassin blood?"

"Assassin's are naturally sassy."

"I know."

"Oh. _You know._"

"Well, I've played _Assassin's Creed._"

"You do realize that no assassin's are really like Ezio?"

"…there could be."

"You want me to be Italian."

"I would buy you a pony."

"And by that do you mean Dick would buy me a pony because I don't think you have twenty grand lying around, hot shot."

"I thought that was Roy's nickname."

"Oh, sorry. I must have got you mixed up. It's the red hair."

"That's racist."

"Hair-_ist._ Get it right."

"Oh, sorry. I will try better, _just for you._"

"Damn right you will."

They paused for a second to just smirk at each other—or in Wally's case it was more of a stupid, lopsided smile because he was about to have a stroke. "Do ponies really cost twenty thousand?" he asked, casually.

"I don't know. Do I look like the type of person who goes out and buys ponies in my free time?"

"Jesus, you don't need to get so defensive about _everything_."

She narrowed her eyes, but didn't do anything more to acknowledge that he was completely right. "So what are you doing here again?"

He just smirked when he realized that she wasn't going to say anything more about the previous topic, "Oh you know, looking for Dick."

"You mean your lover."

"Oh you caught us. Me and Dick are actually married."

"That was quick."

"We eloped."

"Batman was the priest?"

"How'd you know we'd have a Batman themed wedding? I wanted Elvis, but Dick was persistent."

"I'm assuming he's the wife."

"Yep. He always gets his way."

"Okay, what are you two talking about? I got lost after Ezio," Dick said walking up to them with a grin.

"Wally says you're the girl in bed."

Dick narrowed his eyes at Wally, "_What_?"

Artemis just smirked as Wally made the ugliest face he could at Artemis—it was actually pretty scaring and Artemis was scared for a second that it might freeze that way because _holy mother of God _it was ugly. "I will eat you," he threatened.

"You know, that's an actual threat coming from you."

"You know," Dick murmured, "for not knowing each other that long, you two sure know how to personally attack each other."

Without a pause, Artemis answers him, "I'm his niece."

That causes them both to crack a smile at that. Once she finally got out all about her past and that it was all a rouse that she was Ollie's niece—no surprise there—it actually because a running joke. Mainly because Artemis had told them that Ollie had said _'We'll introduce you as my new protégé and my niece. You know. Cause we're both blonde.'_

Yeah…so she may have started a whole bunch of blonde jokes around her mentor, but it was worth it. Especially when the Flash tried to pass as Ollie's niece.

Oh wait. Dick wasn't supposed that joke. Or was he. Or was Artemis not supposed to direct her joke in Dick's direction because he shouldn't really find that funny because…

Reason four Artemis hates secret IDs: she's not sure if it's appropriate to laugh at or tell inside jokes.

"So seriously, why are you here?" Artemis asked.

"I was going to hang out with my—"

"Lover?" Artemis finished right as Wally put his arm around Dick.

"Exactly. Jealous?" Wally smirked.

Artemis shrugged, "There's always polygamy," she waved off. "Where's Bette?" she asked Dick.

Dick smirked like he had this horrible evil plan. "Oh, she's just over there." Dick gestured to the other side of the pavilion as Bette made her way through her hoards of friends.

After probably hugging _every single person in the school_ she made her way over after Artemis had to endure an endless supply of Wally jokes that managed to always fall flat. It was incredible that someone could have that many jokes that didn't work. He probably got them from Dick.

Or Roy.

Yep, they came from Roy.

"Hey, what's up?" Bette asked as she walked up and threw an arm around Artemis' waist. "Where's tall, red, and angst?" she asked immediately searching for Roy.

Both Wally and Artemis shared a look that said the same thing: _Angsting about being a clone._ They both said nothing because, you know, Bette isn't involved in the super hero community. Nope. Not at all…

Even Artemis thought process was sketchy.

She really needs to work on that.

"He's busy being a butt," Wally answered. Artemis wasn't really paying attention to them—she was looking for Babs—until she heard a squeak. Dick's face was bright red and Wally was grinning like the idiot he was.

Dick glared up at him, "You don't need to squeeze my butt when you say _butt._"

Both Artemis and Bette started laughing. "Dude, it's to make a point. Like when someone says _Look_ and they point."

"Can you stop being an idiot for one moment?"

Yep, they definitely weren't Kid Flash and Robin.

She couldn't tell.

_Not at all._

"Oh there's Babs, lets go Art," Bette threw her arm back around Artemis' shoulders and turned her away from the boys. "See you later, Dick!" she called back.

_Artemis should have taken that as a clue._

They picked up Barbara on their way to Bette's car and they left not long after that. Unfortunately, Artemis didn't realize where they were going till it was too late. "Why are we going to my house?" she asked.

Bette shrugged, "I think I left my pants in your house."

"No you didn't."

"That's what you think. Let me go get them," with that Bette left the car.

Artemis turned around in her seat to look at Babs, "We're not going to out to eat, are we?"

Barbara sighed and leaned her head against the back of the seat, "Probably not. I think her and Dick were talking about hanging out."

Artemis groaned, "I don't wanna hang out with Wally."

"Yeah, Bette kinda signed us up for this without our permission."

"Just wake me up when we get there."

"Are you seriously that tired?"

"No, but I imagine that Dick just sent Bette on a rat race of things she needs to get."

"Mm, I'm crawling into the back and sleeping back there."

Barbara just chuckled a bit as Artemis crawled over the center divider to get back to her. She curled into a little ball and laid her head on Babs' lap. "You're like a little cat," she mused.

"Mm, don't compare me to cats."

"You're a little cat."

"Buttgirl."

"That was uncalled for."

"I wanna sleep."

"Then don't insult your pillow."

"Well usually it doesn't talk back."

"So you talk to your pillow?"

"I talk to many inanimate objects because they're the only things nowadays that don't bother me."

"Is there a crab in your butt?"

"You know when people say they want to sleep, they usually get to go to sleep."

"You're not sleeping."

"I will cut you."

"Don't be a butthole."

"Way to keep it PG."

"I can bump it up if you want me to."

"I'm good."

"…I'm gonna sleep now."

"I think you've said that a couple times."

"Just shut up."

Artemis is very proud of her ability to fall asleep literally anywhere. She has managed to fall asleep while riding on Roy's motorcycle, during one of Batman's mission briefings, while sitting on the arm chair of the couch, while trying to put on some ornaments on the Wayne family Christmas tree and nearly cracked her head on the floor—funny story about that—, while getting a piggy back ride from Bette, while hanging upside down from the bars in the mountain, in the middle of changing—another funny story because that was one of the nights that Robin tried to go on patrol with her, so he ended up walking into her room while she was knocked out on her bed with only her underwear on. She found out this happened because the next day Dick and Robin couldn't look at her without getting all flustered, hormonal, teenaged boy.

It was priceless.

What was even the point of that story?

Oh yeah. Artemis can sleep anywhere at any time. It's her superpower. Kid Flash can eat a crap ton, Artemis can sleep, Roy can angst, and Robin can acrobat. They're like the Fabulous(ly Lazy) Four or something.

Artemis may be able to sleep in almost anywhere, but, beyond contrary belief, underwater is not one of them. At least, not yet.

She really needs to ask Kaldur about that again…

Artemis broke through the water surface and glared at the two girls who were nearly on their knees from laughing at Artemis and her misfortune. Yep. _Good friends._ Thankfully, her _friends_ were too busy laughing to notice when Artemis reached out of the water and grabbed Babs and dragged her in. Bette had a reflex and flung herself backwards onto the tile.

It didn't take long for the red head to pop up beside her, "What was that for?" she protested.

"Why did you throw me into the pool?"

Bette, being inexplicably smart, laid down on her stomach and penguin-ed it up to the edge of the pool. She propped her head on her hands and smirked at Artemis. "Well, lets see. Lately you've been a drama bug, full of teenage angst, so Babs and me agree that you need to get your butt kicked into being happy again. We have a _plethora _of plans of how to do that."

"And throwing me in your pool was your best idea?"

Bette narrowed her eyes, "You're not smart, are you?"

"_Bette,_" Barbara scolded.

Bette sighed, "We are going to have the most gut wrenching sleepover ever because of how adorable we are. I am going to braid your hair in the most complicated way possible and we're going to talk about boys and how Mrs. Cree is about to burst because of her child and Dick's _ass_—because oh my God how did we not notice it before—and Babs is going to paint your nails and we're going to be the most girly girl people ever but then we'll play some _Skyrim_ to break the mold of girly girl stuff and then we'll flirt with my neighbor because he's totally hot and we aren't going to even _think_ about hero-ing and shit because your panties will get in a twist and I will not hesitate to rip them off."

The pause in the air as they waited for Artemis to respond was a bit tense. Finally, Artemis smiled, "Thanks guys."

"I told you it would work," Babs laughed form beside her.

Bette stuck out her tongue, "Shuddup, so Art…do you wanna go change because you're in my pool…in your clothes and I don't think that's good. I would have changed you into a bathing suit, but I think that borderlines on sexual assault."

All the girls shared a cheeky grin before Babs and Artemis waddled their selves out of the pool and up the steps. Bette threw them both a towel and they dried off. "Since when did you have a pool and why did you never tell me?" Artemis joked.

"Dick isn't your only friend who is richer than hell."

"Speaking of Dick, you bought the goldfish right Barbara?"

She finds the package on her fire escape and she's extremely glad that there is a slim possibility Dick is patrolling tonight—Artemis doesn't know what she would have done if Dick had opened it.

Or at least, maybe she does, he probably would have finally gone to Batman with news of what Artemis knows. How Barbara is Batgirl and how she has been helping her.

The costume was torn and ripped and quite frankly Artemis was tempted to make her a completely new costume with the material she had left over—although the costume might have a more of a _green_ look to it than before. Instead of making Batgirl have a sudden like in green, she uses the material that she has saved up from doing quick patch jobs on Robin's outfit.

She has to nearly reconstruct the entire left leg and most of the arm too from the burn damages…Artemis didn't realize that Babs had gotten that hurt.

_Was Artemis really that unobservant? _

It was a thought that lingered in her mind a bit longer than it was welcome. It made her curious to if she had missed other things too…that wasn't a comforting thought. Then again, what was? Artemis at least felt a bit more secure since she had been able to spend most of the night with Babs and Bette…

…and then she snuck off.

She had early training in the morning with GA and it was either sneak out of the house at 6 AM or sneak out right now, which was 3:16 AM. Artemis doesn't know the last time that she stayed up that late—_willingly. _

The taste of tea was already on her tongue as an attempt to make sure that she doesn't fall asleep and end up missing the training. The shower she took prior had only managed to wake her up a bit. It didn't wake her up enough to stop her from constantly pricking her fingers on the needle as she hand sown the final parts of the cowl back together.

The knock on her window shocked her out of her little staring party she was having with the cowl and nearly made her sew some of her own skin into the cowl.

She sighed and sucked on her pricked finger and shoved the costume and the sewing supplies under her bed. It was a very clumsy way of walking as she made her way over to the window. She opened the blinds and the window. Robin's domino mask greeted her.

"What's broken?" she asked.

The domino mask crinkled a bit as he snorted, "I don't have to be limping to come see you."

"You usually are."

"Well look at me breaking tradition. So…you gonna let me in?" he asked.

She still hadn't moved from her place in the windowsill even though the air was already chilling her room. "I have to go to Star in like an hour."

He just rolled his eyes and pushed back into her and closed the window, "It's freaking cold out there. I seriously need to talk to B about putting some sleeves on this thing."

"Try parading around in a midriff."

"We're you and Babs and Bette supposed to be doing a super girly shindig thing?" he completely walked past her and went out of her room and into the living room/kitchen/pretty much the only room in the house that isn't a bedroom. He poured himself some tea from her pot and turned to look at her, "What? _Spoiler. No comment?_"

She rolled her eyes, "I have training, and so I left early."

"Without telling them."

"I left a note."

He seemed unamused as he sipped at the tea. His nose wrinkled, "How do you drink this stuff without any honey or anything?"

Artemis just shrugged.

Robin let out a puff of air, "Bette was so excited that you guys finally got some girl time and you _left?_ I don't really want to deal with a moping you, a sudden thrill seeking Babs, and a girl deprived Bette, so you know what, I am going to go over to Star City with Roy and we're going to distract Ollie and give him some excuse that you're PMS-ing about Roy being a clone. And you know what you're gonna do? You are going to go over to Bette's and eat that note—no you can't throw it away, you have to eat it—and be _happy_. Okay?"

She smiled, "Thanks for the pep talk, Robin."

"I learned from the best."

"Batman gives pep talks?"

"Oh God no. Alfred does."

"I was scared for a second. Bye, Robin."

"Bye, Art, and listen, uhm, truce?" he offered a fist bump.

She accepted it and watched as he went back out of her window. "Oops, I lied," she snorted and pulled out her phone.

_I got Dick out of his house._

_ Good. Move onto plan aquarium at Wayne manor?_

_ It's a go. _

Artemis smirked, of course Dick would fall for archer angst.


	26. Chapter 26

If doesn't get Batgirl on Bruce's good side, Artemis is not sure what will, to be honest.

Artemis throws another punch just to the left of Batgirl to catch another thug in the gut. Batgirl uses that punch and throws her elbow back to completely knock the guy out. And like that they both keep on working off of each other's moves, and Artemis is genuinely surprised. Not even her and Robin can work this seamlessly together.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Artemis helped trained Batgirl to become the fighter that she is right now-so does that make her kinda like Artemis' protégé?

Artemis isn't sure if that is a cool or a scary thought.

Batgirl punches right over Artemis' left shoulder to catch a guy in the jaw and Artemis ducks under the thrown arm to block a punch that was aimed for Batgirl's left side. She elbows Artemis right in the shoulder and Artemis takes the queue to duck just narrowly missing the knife aimed at her head.

For a split second, Artemis debates on pulling out her bow, but then she remembers just how many civilians there are around them, and that moment when she thought that she was for sure going to get on Bruce's good side goes down the drain if anyone gets hurt.

It's hard being a hero in Gotham sometimes.

Not only is there the usual superhero spheal, but then you also have to deal with whether or not Batman likes you or not (hint: he usually doesn't).

Artemis thinks that Batman kinda likes her, or at least he likes her when he likes her.

"So what are we doing here again?" Artemis asks and Babs merely answers her with a grunt as she blocks-kinda-a punch to her shoulder. Artemis has a hard time remembering sometimes that not everyone is condition to chat in a fight like Robin—or Kid Flash or pretty much everyone on her Team. Then again, there's no one that Artemis even knows that talks as much as Dick in a fight.

God, sparring with him is the worst.

And Artemis really should finish this fight up soon because she really does not want to have Batman walk in on them. Although, that in itself was decently unlikely considering they specifically chose to patrol during the day instead of the night. That meant an 80% chance of not running into tall, dark, and broody during one of their patrols.

Artemis thinks that is actually a pretty good ratio of her not getting kicked off the Team, so she'll go with that.

Then again, that also means that if she messes up there's going to be no Batman to make sure they don't die.

Psh. Like dying ever happens to superheroes.

Well, it hasn't happened to Artemis, yet.

Artemis caught the last thug by the collar and throws him against the bar that they were in. There's a satisfying crack that echoes over the chaos going on throughout the bar. She leans over the guy as he leans against the bar, "So what's the point of this new gang, big guy?"

He narrows his eyes and spits blood in her face, "Revolution, girlie."

Oh. Okay. _Revolution_. She hasn't heard that one since 1773.

She knocks him out easily and…Batgirl has already left her. _Figures_. They are supposed to meet Dick in ten minutes, but Artemis doesn't really mind being late considering, well, _it's Dick_. She can be late to the manor. Babs on the other hand has to keep up her appearance of being the extremely responsible friend. Or she just wants to impress Dick.

There's an 80% chance that it could be either one at this point.

Artemis zip ties the rest of the thugs that had been knocked out and leaves the trashed bar. She arrives home two minutes before she's supposed to be at the manor.

She can so make it.

That is if she doesn't shower, but there's no way she is going to Dick's covered in blood. Although, she thinks that maybe Bruce's reaction would be reason enough to not-

Why does she suddenly have the want to just bother Batman? This has never really been a priority before so why is it now? This priority seems like something that is going to get her banned from Gotham. Knowing-okay, so more like _assuming_ from what Dick has told her-Bruce will most likely pay her and her mother to move to Star City. As fun as that sounds, Artemis likes living in Gotham. Gotham is cold. Star City is hot. Gotham is snowy. Star City is muggy. Gotham is crime ridden. Star City is also Crime Ridden.

Those were all of the points Artemis had made to her mother when asked why she didn't just move to Star City to be with her mentor. She kinda won the argument. Kinda. Maybe. Not really, but Artemis doesn't talk about the times that she doesn't win arguments, so they don't really happen.

Like Roy. He never happened.

He doesn't randomly appear in her house and have dinner with her mother. No. He doesn't look at her baby pictures. No that never happens. No he doesn't awkwardly ask about her sister because nothing is going on between them that would be extremely weird. He doesn't find any worthy blackmail pictures like a picture at the gullible age of three wearing a Speedy costume.

No, that never happened. _Ever_.

Like he wasn't in her bedroom when she got out of the shower and still in just a towel. No that wasn't him. It was just a clone.

Heh. _Clone_.

"Out."

He held up her uniform skirt. "You go to a private school?"

"I'm going to tell GA that you were sexually harassing me."

"I'm just in your bedroom."

"And I'm naked and you won't get out and I'm pretty sure that's sexual harassment."

"Is all you do is complain cause _Jesus_?"

"Maybe it's because you don't leave me alone. Ever."

"_Loser_."

"_Dick_," Artemis paused for a second, "Speaking of dicks, I was supposed to be at Dick's palace like thirty minutes ago."

"_Speaking of dicks_," Roy mutters under his breath and rolls his eyes, obviously mocking her, again. "Whatever, just letting you know that Ollie wants to patrol tonight-"

"Oh are you his little messenger boy? That's so cute."

Oh she loved it when Roy glared at her with all that hatred. "No, but I'm just warning you that a lot of people in the League have been gossiping about you because Batman thinks you're behind this whole Batgirl thing, so yeah. Don't be a screw up."

The _like me_ was understood.

"Thanks, Harper, for the life lesson while I was still in a towel. Very appreciated."

"Whatever, Crock," he did a weird salute thing which Artemis was pretty sure that he just flicked her off, but she wasn't too sure, and he left through the window.

Did they just not like her door because it hadn't been oiled in twenty years or what because Artemis doesn't understand why he nor Dick can't just use the door and leave through that entrance? She can excuse Robin or Red Arrow doing it, but Roy or Dick? No. They can use the door like every other kid.

Then again, they're _them_, why should she expect anything different?

Thankfully, her mom did not hear her talking to Roy in her room or her mom did not question it because Artemis was able to leave the apartment without a question.

Someday, she wonders what it would be like to have her own mode of transportation so it wouldn't take her almost an hour to go to the Manor by bus, and then she remembers that gas costs money and she does not have money, so it wouldn't even matter if she had her own mode of transportation.

She knocks on the door to the manor and is greeted by Alfred. "Ah, Miss Crock, it is great to see that you're consistent in being late."

Artemis really hopes that when she's older that she has the amount of wit and sass that Alfred has.

"Uh, nice to see you again, Alfred."

"The others and Master Richard are outback already. Do you think you can handle getting yourself back there?"

"I, uhm, think I am capable, but thanks Alfred."

"Always at your service, Miss Crock."

She blinks a couple times but proceeds through the house and hopes that she won't run into A) Bruce (most of the time he usually ignores her but every once and a while-she thinks after he finally realized that Artemis was going to be Dick's friend for more than two weeks like the rest-he will try and strike a conversation with her and she doesn't want that) or B) Jason (he's cute and all but she has suspicions that he's covered in glitter glue because once he sees Artemis he doesn't leave her until she goes home-and sometimes not even then).

Funny story actually, Jason followed her home once. He managed to stow away in Bette's car and slip out when Artemis got out and when Artemis put her key in the door he finally made himself known. Artemis nearly peed herself; she really does not do well with items that just pop out of nowhere. She easily resolved the issue by calling Dick and letting know of the kid attached to her leg.

Dick still hasn't let her live that down.

She manages to make it all the way through the manor without being stopped by anyone-_thank God_-and makes it outside.

She snorts at her friends-what else did she expect them to be doing than this?

Dick was currently diligently working on building a fort for them-or was he trying to build an igloo and it just was not staying up? Barbara was standing next to him and helping him, kinda; it was more like she was directing him on what to do and every once and a while she would place snow somewhere to "fix Dick's mistake". And Bette. Well, Bette was just sitting on the back porch laughing at the other two.

Artemis went and plopped herself next to Bette. "How long have they been at it?" she whispers to Bette.

"About an hour and a half," Bette snickers.

"You know, Dick, I don't think you know what you're doing."

"Well, Artemis, at least I'm trying."

"I don't even think I would even count that as trying."

"Artemis has a point, Dick."

"If you two think that I'm not doing anything special then I wanna see you guys try and build a snow fort."

Artemis and Bette met eyes and snorted. "Uh, no thanks."

Dick mutters something under his breath that sounds strangely like lazy sluts, but Artemis couldn't be sure.

Doesn't mean she still couldn't take action.

She easily rolls a snowball, and with her perfect archer aim she chucks it at Dick's head only for it all to slosh down into his jacket after impact. Artemis grins. That couldn't have gone better.

Heh. Bette-r.

Dick turns to them slowly with the most furious look on his face and motions for her to come closer, and who is Artemis not to amuse the boy? She hops off of the porch and stands in front of Dick.

One second she was standing there observing how Dick seems to be hitting a growth spurt and the next she was thrown into the failed attempt at a snow fort with Dick's knee in her gut.

"Uncle," she laughs out and is laughing until he's got a handful of snow down her shirt.

"Shit," she whimpers when the snow starts to melt against her skin, and before she even has time to actually think through what she's doing, she has her fingers hooked in his pants and her other hand shoving as much snow as she can down his pants.

After that it becomes an all out snow fight.

"You're clothes should be out of the dryer in an hour and until then you all will have to live with wearing Master Richard's clothing," Alfred explains with one last amused teasing glance before leaving the room.

This is the only time Artemis will ever be caught wearing Dick Grayson's clothes.

Dick's smirk alone was a good enough reason for her to never wear his clothes again, and from the looks of it Bette and Babs weren't too pleased either. "I could get used to my girls in my clothes."

Yeah, this is never happening again.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N - Ah. Hi guys. So I was gone. School and stuff problems. The only way I'm going to be able to continue this is having the chapters be a lot shorter than before. So yeah. Sorry I was gone. And thank you for all the "i thought you were dead" reviews. Those were the best. **

****Gymnastic Coach

Math is hard.

Math is especially hard when at your last school the Sophomore level class was about the same as the 8th grade level class.

Math is even _harder_ when you are trying your best to do trig and the kid next to you keeps on pulling on your ponytail, giving his best to distract you in anyway he can.

But if she ignored him long enough, _he will stop._

At least she hoped so, but after a full three minutes of ignoring him twirling her hair around his finger, he still hadn't stopped, and he wasn't showing any signs of stopping.

"Hey, hey Art."

She ignored him, again, and hoped that he would go back to doing his own homework and stop bothering her.

"Hey, hey listen."

"Pst, the answer to three is most _definitely_ not a number."

"Mm, did you get a new conditioner? Your hair's softer than usual."

"Arty-_mis_, don't ignore me."

"Too late," she muttered, but instantly regretted it when he perked up at her response. He immediately got even more into her space and rested both of his legs on her lap.

"Yes, Arty, you called?"

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh but you just did."

"Work on you homework, _Dick_."

He snorted and leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his back and smirked at her, "Already finished."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her trig problem to try and figure out what she did wrong. She swears to God the answer was a number. Dick had to be messing with her. "Well not everyone can be a star mathlete like you."

"I know, why do you think _I'm_ the star mathlete?"

She paused doing her math homework for a second and contemplated stabbing him in the knee but she figured she'd rather not get expelled.

She'll just have to wait till after school then.

"You do realize that you're doing most of the problems wrong."

"Thank you, _Dick_, did not realize that."

"Just trying to help, Arty-farty."

She shot him a look, but his smirk didn't die at all. This was her only class where she only had Dick in it, and it was torture. At least in French and English she was able to divert his attention to Bette or Babs, but now she was completely along, and his full attention was on her.

"I could tutor you."

At this, Artemis lifted her head from her homework. For a minute, she debated the offer and then she realized that it had to be a trap. Dick Grayson always had a trap. He was like a master hunter and she last like the stupidest bunny in the woods—she was a cute bunny, though.

But she wasn't going to get caught, not this time.

"If I really want help, I'll ask Babs."

"Artemis, I thought we were friends."

"That's debatable."

"But we're teammates."

"You know, should we really be talking about the Team when we are in school surrounded by other people? It seems kinda weird considering the whole secret identities and all."

"Says Artemis Crock AKA _Artemis_."

She narrowed her eyes at her homework and finally just gave up and shut her book. She turned to look at Dick, who was still sitting relaxed in his seat, his feet still on her lap. "Not my fault, Dad picked that out."

He shrugged, "Speaking of that, how is your family?"

She raised a brow, "Dad still estranged. Sister still estranged. Mom still gossiping with Dinah. Why?"

Dick shrugged again, "I dunno. Just curious."

"Is B making you do a background check?" she joked and played with her pen on the table.

He watched the pen before answering, "Nah, he may be paranoid, but he's gotten used to you in the city." Dick leaned over to whisper in her ear, "I think you're growing on him."

"I'd hope so," she muttered.

He snorted and glanced over at the teacher, "Mrs. Lee is staring at us."

"Considering we're not doing our homework and just chatting, it makes sense."

"So when are we having the tutoring session again?" She rolled her eyes and tried to push his legs off her lap but they were secure there. Can't fight against the acrobats legs. "Getting weak?" he tutted and laughed at her.

"No," she said indigently.

He hummed and she wanted nothing more than to push him out of his chair, but she really did not want to get in trouble, so she submitted to his torture of him using her as a stool. "Do you have gymnastics practice after school today?"

She glanced up, "Why?"

"No reason."

No reason her ass.

So when she walked into the GA athletic room with Bette and Barbara at her side and she saw Dick Grayson already talking animatedly to her coach, she wasn't too surprised.

She just thought it was a bit early in the day for cross-dressing.

Artemis' makes a mental note to change the lock on her gym locker before assessing the situation-a valuable tool that Batman had taught the entire Team-although she doubts that he ever thought it would ever be used for this sort of situation.

No, he probably did.

Lets see, there's one Dick Grayson in her sports bra and what looks like leggings-she really hopes those aren't hers because currently she can't see an underwear line and _ew_. No. They're probably Babs. They're to that point in their relationship, maybe, if there is a _that point. _

Artemis does not wish to ever meet that point.

Second, there's a Dick Grayson who is talking to her gymnastics' coach, which is okay, but why? He obviously doesn't need to, and she swears to God if he's trying somehow get onto the gymnastics team she will shoot someone with her little bow she made during Chem once.

Many times, Dick has explained the unfairness of the gymnastics scenario to her, whether it is during Algebra 2 or during French, about how it is sexist for a man not to be on a gymnastics team. That the team needs diversity-he then felt the need to make the comment how Artemis' mixed racial background is not simply enough.

_Whatever that means_.

Third, Dick had noticed them, smirked, and went back to talking to her coach, Mrs. Kree.

That was not okay.

He is not allowed to smirk. That just means he's planning something.

Or he has some disgusting photo of Wally that she really doesn't want to see but he's going to show her anyway because he's a true friend.

Barbara was on the same page as her. She narrowed her eyes at the boy before looking back at Artemis, "He's trying to get on the team, isn't he?"

"Artemis, that's your bra isn't it."

"Yep."

"Should we tell Bruce that his son cross dresses?"

"He'll find out soon enough."

Bette huffed and they continued on forward towards the situation with great caution. It was truly the only way to approach Dick when he had a plan. The conversation seemed to be closing and Dick was saying his final praises towards Mrs. Kree. The duo turned towards them and it seemed that she was not necessarily too scarred for life.

"What's this all about, Dick?"

Dick opened his mouth to start, but Mrs. Kree managed to get words out before Dick-and that in itself was quite a feat. "As you three know, I am well, pregnant, and will be taking a leave of absence soon, so Dick has offered, being a veteran gymnast, to coach the team."

She told him he was not allowed to join the team, so he leads it.

_ Of course. _

He found a loophole.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N - You guys are so cute I just want to take you all and just hold you. Okay now for serious business some of you probably know that Young Justice has been cancelled, but that does not mean that we can't just sit here and let that happen. So please. I urge any that haven't to sign the petition going around and contact CN _NICELY_ about it. Don't be a dick cause it's not gonna get us anywhere. There are many other ways to help the show get renewed so please look around. Thank you! **

Milk Trip

Artemis should know that being anywhere in Wayne Manor is a 100% chance of something horribly life scarring to happen

Unfortunately, Artemis and her inability to sleep in that late at sleepovers because of the remaining caffeine in her system, led to this certain predicament often. So she is often faced with sitting in Dick's bed with Bette still clinging to her midsection or going down to the kitchen to get some tea and maybe talk to Alfred-scratch that, she just wants tea.

Getting off of the bed without waking up Bette-or Babs who was on the other side of the blonde. Waking up Bette early is a sure fire way to make yourself on her bad list, so Artemis carefully uncurled Bette's fingers out of her shirt one by one. Artemis debated for a second on maybe leaving a pillow in her place but decides against it. Bette would realize that Artemis is not that fluffy.

And that she's not kicking back.

She easily wiggled the rest of the way off of the bed without waking Bette or Barbara up.

That was the easy part.

The next thing to do was the figure out where in the huge pile of blankets is Dick Grayson. When Dick slept, he always curled around multiple blankets in a-_heh_-nest. When he slept on the ground that was especially true.

So when she looked down at the blanket covered floor, it was a lot harder to find him than one might actually think, and it's really too early in the morning to actually put an effort into it, so she just steps down and hopes that she doesn't step on him. If her memory serves her correctly he had fallen asleep on the left side of the bed because he had been bothering Barbara.

Artemis took a couple of precarious steps before she reevaluated her situation. _God_. Dick even _slept_ like a Bat. Even while sleeping he was silent and hard to detect, but not impossible.

She's about 90% sure that the weird curved lump around the foot of the bed is him.

Okay, probably only 70% sure, at best.

The only way to guarantee she won't step on him is to hug the outskirts of the blanketed floor and pray to God that she doesn't knock any of the items off of his walls or trip and fall on him. Although, if she fell on him she could just play it off as if she had been sleepwalking or something ridiculous like that.

There's about a 65% chance that he'll believe her.

She could always tell him that she had a nightmare. Yeah, that should work. Maybe. Probably—okay probably not, but if she were to tell him that she was going downstairs to get tea then he would want to come with too and Artemis isn't sure that she would like that very much. Dick can be quite energetic and talkative in the morning. Artemis, on the other hand, is not..

Thankfully, with her deft ability to, well, not step on Dick, she made it out of the room. Now she only has to make it to the kitchen without seeing anyone else in the household because it is currently 7:30 AM and she does not want to have to talk to anyone-especially a member of the Wayne family.

Especially Bruce, because, well, he's _Bruce_.

He's Bruce Wayne and he's _Batman_ and he's her mission director and Artemis is pretty sure that he doesn't like her and he's like the richest kid in Gotham and he gave her a Wayne scholarship and it's almost like she has to live up to something for him and he doesn't know about the whole Batgirl situation-

Okay. He probably knows. He's probably just waiting for her to confess or be a good person or whatever character exercise him and Canary cocked up.

And Bruce Wayne is also sitting in the kitchen.

Artemis thinks of about the five different ways that she could possibly escape the kitchen but none of them seem fast enough-and fuck. He tensed a bit. He knows she's her and if she simply walks back out he'll definitely not like her even more.

There's a 5% chance that he'll believe her if she says that she is sleepwalking.

Instead of just collapsing in the hallway-which seemed like a very nice and viable option-she continues on into the kitchen past Bruce, who's sitting at the island sipping at his coffee and reading the paper. She bets he drinks his coffee _black_, and _oh God_, he's probably staring at her now.

She thinks for a brief moment that it's really silly that she's intimidated by Bruce, but she throws that aside when she remembers that the only reason that she is a hero is because Bruce let her be and he could probably stop her from being hero too.

She decides that milk is just as good as tea.

She's just getting the milk out of the fridge when, "You're up early."

She manages to compose herself to let out a little hum and it's really too early to be talking to people and making full coherent sentences. Way too early. "Used to waking up early for school," she manages a full sentence.

Bruce hums back, and for a moment she is purely content with the situation. She has already poured her glass of milk and there's a very nice silence that's settled in between the two. She even thinks that maybe she won't sweep off back up to Dick's bedroom and will drink the milk here instead. Probably chug it still, though.

"You know our secret identities."

It's not even a _question_. It's a _statement_.

In one moment, Artemis had been so intact and the next she's barely able to keep her milk from coming out her nose.

And Dick still wonders why she's so freaked out by Bruce.

"_Uhm_," is the only thing she can manage after she wipes all the milk from her face—it only dribbled out of her mouth (a bit). "Yeah?"

Bruce raises a brow and takes another sip of his coffee, "I hope you understand the levity of that responsibility."

"Uhm. Yeah. I do."

"Of how you knowing our identities could put you at risk."

"Yeah, I guessed that."

"Dick didn't inform you of that?"

She pauses because with her answer she could easily answer truthfully and throw Dick under the bus-or rather, heh, Batmobile-or she could lie. Unfortunately, the pause says enough and Bruce nods. "If any villain finds out they could use that information against you or try to get the information out of you any way they can."

She nods. She knew this. It's not like super heroes' families were the only ones that are in danger because of their occupation. Her and Jade were targeted many times when they were younger because of their father and mother. She remembers one time where a mob had taken her and held her hostage until her Dad did a job them.

"I know."

Bruce nods, "Don't let it be used against you, Artemis."

"Bruce, what are you doing to Artemis that makes her look like she's about ready to bash her face in with her cup?" Artemis had been so absorbed into not dying that she hadn't even noticed that Dick had walked up behind them. Artemis suppressed a snort that bubbled up inside her when she saw how Dick's hair was sticking up every which way and how one of the legs of his pajama pants was slightly rolled up.

He leaned against the counted and promptly took a swig out of Bruce's cup and his nose crinkled a bit, "Art, give me your cup-this is way too bitter."

Bruce looks at her for a second and she swears she sees a crinkle at the corner of his eyes before turning back to Dick, "Artemis and I were talking about how you coerced her into dating you to make sure I didn't find out that you had told her our secret identities."

For a second Dick didn't respond. He seemed to be having a bit of reality lag. "Uh. _What_?"

Artemis snickered a bit because Dick was looking in between the two of them trying to figure out if he was getting punked or not. "I. What?"

"You heard me."

"Yeah doesn't mean I understood you."

"Can I go?" Artemis tried, but the look from Bruce caused the protest to die down in her throat.

Bruce shook his head and set his coffee down and Artemis was pretty sure this is when the serious stuff happened. "I know, Dick, that as you grow older, the want to share more of your life with your friends grow, and I understand how that is important to your development. I accepted the fact that with Wally and Roy. Both of those situation were mostly okay, however with Artemis living in Gotham City it makes your companionship issues much more difficult-"

Artemis and Dick both met eyes and Artemis mouthed, "Companionship issues?"

Dick just shrugged and the two of them stopped when they realized that Bruce was waiting for them to stop their side conversation to once again pay attention to Bruce.

Companionship issues. Heh.

Artemis was not going to let him live that down.

"Since Artemis lives in Gotham City, she is more connected to Batman than either Wally or Roy are. The risk is more close to home, per say, knowledge is dangerous Artemis, as I'm sure you've heard before."

"I've taken the liberty to adjust your current patrol route to make it more linear to mine and some more rules will be set in place later. Specifically limiting your interaction with the more high risk villains."

Bruce finally took a sip of his coffee and he seemed to visibly ease in his chair. He raised a brow, "You may leave."

Artemis nearly tripped over Dick on her way out but thank God they were already behind Bruce.

He probably knows, though.

(Probably documented her stumbled and next time she has a training with him he will add some high stress evasive training to her routine that will make her sore for the next week)

"Oh and Dick?" and Artemis has never seen Dick freeze up that fast before in his life as he turns. He makes a small noise in his throat that can only be categorized as a ridiculously high pitched _hm_? "We will have a discussion later about priorities."

Artemis was very impressed that Dick made it all the way back to his room before he fell down and just curled into his-Jesus Christ-nest. Artemis merely sat down and rubbed his back, "Art-y-mis, do you know what he means by priorities?"

"Hm, no I don't, Dick," Artemis just smiled and continued rubbing away the quickly forming tension in his shoulders and tried not to laugh at how hard he was already sobbing.

"He's gonna try and talk to me about girls. _Again_."


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N - You guys leave such nice reviews that I just want to punch myself in the face. Oh, and to August, yes, I do still take suggestions, and I will definitely do his parents death. Unfortunately, it won't be a while considering they died April 1st and the story is currently in January. And yes, wethk, I do have a tumblr at pinkflyingbunny. Again, thanks guys for all the lovely reviews.**

Zero for Three

Artemis _appreciates_ Bruce Wayne.

He's nice. He's kinda scary with his whole billionaire and Batman aura, but he's nice.

He's also convinced that now since Artemis knows who he is that she's almost like-oh God, how did Dick put it?-_another little bird_ for him.

(Actually, Dick used the word "_chick_" but there is no way she is ever going to be one of Bruce Wayne's _chicks_. Too many negative connotations.)

She thinks it's sweet.

Kinda.

The thing is. He's Bruce Wayne-_Batman_-a fact that she has yet to get over yet because well, it was a traumatic revelation in her life. She remembers how her Dad used to bitch about Bruce Wayne because all of the money in Gotham goes through him and his-_ahem_-"_pretty boy hands_". Her Dad may have held some bitter resentment towards the billionaire-whether it be the fact that Bruce hasn't had to work a day in his life or the fact that Bruce is prettier than him.

Okay, so the latter was more of something that Jade has said in spite of their Dad, but in all her years of living with her Dad, the only thing he has ever called Bruce Wayne was "Pretty Boy". It's kinda weird, but considering her Dad and his inability to call anyone by their actual name makes a bit of sense.

So again, Bruce Wayne is okay. Weird, but okay.

Sure maybe he adjusted her patrol route to make it more linear to his. And maybe he also steps in whenever she meets anyone above a B-rating in Gotham (and sends Dick whenever there's _anyone_). He also has said that he wishes for all conversation with her and the Shadows to stop (although, what conversations were there in the first place really?). He also gave her some study tips to help her on her tests.

He's also given her new ideas to redesign her costume-thankfully, not in black, though.

Artemis is very proud of her when Dick Grayson suddenly appeared in front of her and slammed his hands down on her desk that she didn't squeak. Not at all. She might be starting to get used to this Bat stuff after all. "So what's the Marshall Plan?" he questioned.

"Hm?" she raised a brow and he pointed down to her book where she was reading. Well, supposed to be reading. "Um, communism was bad."

"Ah, thanks Artemis. Totally going to ace that test Friday aren't you?" he smirked at her.

She was waiting for him to sit down on his knees, but he continued standing and loomed over her. "Totally, wait, you don't have this class. This is my only class without anyone."

He shrugged, "I have to ask the teacher a question."

Artemis snorted. "And by ask the teacher a question, you mean totally bullshit some question and talk to me instead while waiting for the teacher to get his coffee on his routine coffee break at 9:30."

"Mm, you're getting good."

"It's not like you do this once a week to get money from me for the vending machine."

"I always pay you back though."

Except for the fact that she gives him a dollar and he will repay her with ten. She rolls her eyes and finally gets to the point, "What do you want?"

Finally, the amusement washes off his face as he stares her down.

"You're causing Bruce to go through a midlife crisis," Dick accuses her and Artemis is sure that she's never seen Dick so pissed in her life. Except for maybe that one time that Wally had ate all the frosted flakes-he was pretty pissed then too.

But never had she seen such a look of distaste. "I haven't seen Bruce look this _pissy_ since Jason tried to take in a rabid cat and got bit himself."

She put her hands up, "I didn't do anything."

He narrowed his eyes, "Uh huh."

"The only thing I've done that could possibly have Bruce Wayne in a dizzy is that I know—although he's known that for a while—otherwise, all I've done the past week is just breath."

"Mmhmm."

"How do you even know he's, uhm, having a midlife crisis? Isn't he only like twenty-five?"

"Thirty-two, but he's an issue behind in the newspaper, he didn't notice Jason taking ten bucks from his wallet this morning, and he was gone the entire weekend."

"And suddenly since a street kid pickpocket was able to take ten bucks from him, he's suddenly dying."

"Not dying, but he's being weird, Art."

"Maybe you did something?"

"No, he usually just doesn't let me go out if I do something wrong. You know if you didn't do something-"

"Grayson, is there a reason that you're in my class five hours early?" Dick immediately snapped up at the teacher and smiled.

He retracted his almost threatening form and stood up straight, "Yeah, I actually had a question about one of the FRQs for Thursday," and with that Dick walked over to the teacher like he hadn't just been accusing Artemis for making his father-figure go crazy.

Artemis rolled her eyes.

Bruce Wayne was okay-_is_ okay.

It was only when Dick Grayson was about to leave the room that he pointed to the front of her desk that she noticed the neatly folded note. She unfolded it and Artemis nearly snorted in a beautifully unattractive way in class.

"_BTW, you're totally going with me to Winter Dance, right?"_

_Not on your life, boy wonder._

Dick Grayson was weird.

Or at least that's what Bette thought and what Bette thinks is true. It's a universal that has held its ground so far that she's keeping it. She thinks Robin is coolest thing since sliced bread and _he is cool_. She's sure she's gonna fail her APUSH test on Friday and _she will_. She thinks that Babs is acting weird and _she ends up being Batgirl_.

It's like a seventh sense or something.

So when she thinks Dick is being weird, he definitely is being weird.

It was probably Artemis' fault.

Or Tall Dark and Red-Headed. They both always manage to get Dick freaked out one way or another no matter what they do. Actually, usually they don't even need to do anything.

"Hm, Dick, I am pretty sure I am doing this right," she muttered. Her voice was a bit strained, but it was probably just because she was upside down. _Again_.

She looks over at him and he's standing there with his arms crossed and judging her like it's his job-which it is considering he is the coach now.

Doesn't mean she has to take his advice, though.

"You're too tight in the hand stand when going up and the transition when you flip into a bridge," he commented while hopping up onto the bar to sit next to her.

Yes. She'll admit she is a bit stiff, but she is _supposed_ to be this stiff. Gymnastic standards and all. And second, she is not going to listen to a person named _Dick_ tell her how _stiff_ she is.

There are only so many innuendos one girl can take.

Also, she's pretty sure if she stays upside down for one more second all of the blood will permanently stay in her face—and Bette does not look that good like that. She flips down lazily-probably to piss Dick off-and lies down on the bar. He's watching her and she's pretty sure that he's about to have an aneurism.

"You 'kay, Dick?"

He stares at her for a while before he hops up. "It's like you're almost being too careful when doing your moves. It's just not flowing." He does a cartwheel backwards and of course, it's easily way smoother than anything she can do. "See? Flow." He then does a mock up of what she's "doing", and she can see the obvious pause between the movements.

It was not _that_ obvious. "You're exaggerating."

He rolls his eyes and again plops down next to her, "A bit, but you see stiff is bad."

God, he should really stop saying stiff.

"It has to be controlled movement. If I get too fluid, I get marked down for slurred transitions and moves," she points out.

She appreciates Dick's support and help, but the thing is, she's pretty sure he doesn't know the exact rules to gymnastics and what she needs to do for her moves to score. He's teaching her acrobatics, which is more dependent on the constant flow and not the meticulous movements of gymnastics.

She _gets_ it. She just doesn't think Dick gets it, and he's way too thick headed that if she tried to explain it to him he'd probably just discard her statement as conspiracy.

Dick's brows knit together, "Can you go into a bridge for me?"

"Duh." The bridge is easy enough-she's been doing them since she had arms. Dick stands up next to her on the beam before placing both of his hands on her stomach and-

_No_.

"Dick, no."

"I don't think your core is strong enough."

"My core is strong enough, but not strong enough for your fat ass."

He completely ignores her protests and flips onto her stomach and does a handstand and _God_, the kid may be small but his bones must be full of lead or something. "Dick, I'm gonna drop you."

He doesn't budge, and yeah, it's impressive that he's not even swaying while hand standing on her, _but good God_, she can't keep this up. "I thought you circus people were supposed to be all skinny and shit. Do you have ankles weight on?"

"Now that's a good idea."

Finally she took enough and just flipped him off-in the process she may have also launched herself off of the beam too and onto the floor and onto Dick.

She's not sure which was worse: him standing on her stomach or the knee jabbing into her stomach. "I'm gonna beat you up," she groans and doesn't even attempt to lift herself up off of Dick.

"Mhmm."

"How the hell do you weigh that much? You're like two feet tall."

"Muscle."

"I think you just have lead lined underwear."

"You caught me."

"Heh, I knew it." Dick finally pushes her off of him and she rolls onto her back onto the mat, and yes, that feels a lot better than his knee.

"Listen I gotta go-"

"Gotta go meet Bar-bara?" Bette teased.

She smirked when his face flushed a bit, "Uh, practice before school tomorrow?" She groaned and it was his turn to smirk, "I'll take that as a yes!" Before she could protest he ran off.

Maybe she can convince Artemis to take her place. They're both blonde after all.

She got up from the mat and stretched-she hasn't been this sore since that one time that she fell into a trashcan as Batgirl. At first, she had been ecstatic that Dick was now their coach and that Mrs. Keer no longer exploded with her pregnant rage when Bette tackles Artemis, but now Dick is just beating the lessons into them (she's actually pretty sure that he's just doing this to Artemis, her, and Babs because they're the only ones that will do what he says even if it is ridiculous).

Bette makes a note on her mental checklist to ask Artemis for a back massage tonight.

She goes over to her bag to collect her stuff and on her water bottle is a little sticky note. She snorts when she realizes what's on it: a crude picture of her and Dick dancing.

_Not on your life, kid._

Babs thinks that Dick is being way too handsy for normal.

Yes, she has notice how tactile he usually is with pretty much everyone, but right now especially so.

Bette must have shoved some chalk powder down his pants.

"I hope you know that when they sat us at a two person booth, they wanted us to sit on opposite sides, not you on top of me."

She might not be able to see the smirk gracing his face, but she can easily hear it in his voice, "Oh really?"

"I would pinch you, but I don't want to risk breaking the table," she threatened.

He just snorted and leaned even more into her, "I'd like to see you try, Babs. I am impervious to such annoyances."

She rolled her eyes, of course he is.

He was unaffected by any pinching or tickling (except on his feet but Babs was not supposed to know that), however, he was quite sensitive to cold fingers on his back. He yelped so loud that she was sure that the manager was going to come out and make sure that no one was getting mugged. He also jumped so that his knees and pretty much his entire body ended up banging against the table.

Thankfully, she managed to catch her water before it fell all over the floor.

"I think you should get up."

"I think I should stay."

"They're not going to serve us."

"I'm Bruce Wayne's son, though."

"You're going to milk that your entire life aren't you?"

Dick hums and slips off of his roast on her lap to squeeze in between the wall and her in the tiny one-person booth seat.

Did she mention the seat was only meant for _one_ person?

Cause it is.

"Dick, you may think that you're small enough to fit, but you're getting too fat to do that," Barbara pointed out.

Dick instantly started pouting and crossed his arms and she had to laugh at how much he puffed his bottom lip out, "Bette told me that too."

"Then it's obviously fact-you should know by now Dick that we don't argue with Bette-logic," Babs pointed out and finally grabbed her menu since she could finally read it without the obstruction that was Dick Grayson.

He snorted, "Why do you even look at the menu, you know what you're going to get."

He had a good point. It would have been more effective if he hadn't been loading his lemonade (who gets lemonade in January?) with sugar packets-and one or two salt packets because the poor kid just wasn't paying attention.

The waitress came over-and thankfully didn't question their seating situation-and took their order and left as quickly as she could. Good. That just meant that she wasn't going to be bothering them unlike other waiters usually did. "So how was your day?"

"Oh, are we having small talk now?" Dick smirked and dropped one of the paper packets into her drink.

She frowned and picked it out with his fork, "We were going to but you kinda screwed it up."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay, it's not like I wanted to talk to you or anything."

"Oh that's a relief. Or an insult, not sure which."

"Take your time mulling it over-oh the foods here."

"I love how fast your mood changes with the introduction of French fries."

"Mm, shush."

They ate in relative silence besides Barbara calling Dick a loser when he "accidentally" bumped into her while eating causing her to smear ketchup on her cheek. After eating they ordered milkshakes, but Barbara forgot to ask without whip cream-she's so used to having Artemis eat it off nowadays.

She sighed and started scooping off the froth. Dick took her spoon from her, "Here."

And of course, he doesn't efficiently take the cream off of the top but instead carefully spoons it off and onto a plate. He' s such a-

Of course.

She narrows her eyes as he finishes spelling out the message on her plate.

"Not on your life, Grayson."


	30. wait this is chapter 30

**A/N - yeah this is short because I wrote half of this and then Wally died and I was like nope. Thank you for all the love and enjoy Wally and Dick being losers. **

Dickie Wayne

Dick Grayson is the cutest thing in Gotham City.

This is stated by all six of Gotham City's gossip magazines. Dick currently places in as Gotham City's best under eighteen (and also most attractive jailbait, but Bruce feels as though that is not something that he should be proud of).

Dick is the most attractive kid under eighteen _in all of Gotham_, so how the hell did he get rejected by all three of the girls he propositioned?

He lives with "Brucie Wayne"; he's seen what it takes for Bruce to easily get women and he followed all of those steps perfectly.

Steps as follow:

1. Clumsy behavior with a mix of cockiness or bashfulness depending on the girl

2. Treat her to something awesome

3. Compliment her a lot

4. Seduce her

5. Skip Brucie Wayne's steps 6-10 as they involve activities not suitable for people Dick's age

11. Date her

12. Prosper

And yet instead of being at a dance with his girls (even though he followed each step meticulously), he is sitting upside down on the couch with Wally and playing video games. Sure. Normally he'd be fine with easily beating Wally in video games—it's one of his favorite pastimes but he with _Wally_ and _only_ Wally.

With Wally and not his three girls.

"How did they resist me?"

"Man, I don't know why they don't want all five foot of your jailbait looks," Wally snorted and continued to dig his elbow into Dick's side as an attempt to get an up on the game, which was totally not going to help him any. Dick could put down his controller and go get some water and Dick would _still_ win.

"Shut up, I'm adorable."

"You don't have freckles-you need freckles to be adorable."

"You're just saying that because that's the only redeeming quality about your face."

"Excuse me, but I have way more redeeming qualities. Have you seen my legs?"

Dick snorted, "Oh yes, your gorgeous runner legs totally distract me from the zero muscle on your chest and awkward hair."

"My chest is perfectly—_Oh my God_. Did you put the nitro after the jump?"

"Seeing as I'm the only one playing with you, yeah."

"I'm going to kill you."

"I'd like to see you try, loser. You know, for being the fasted one on the team, you always come in last. It's kinda weird."

"It's kinda weird how you asked three girls out and instead of going with you they went with each other."

Dick nearly shoots out of his seat at that, promptly sending his car flying off the track. There was no way they were ever playing the flying track again. He doesn't know why any of these racing games even have tracks without rails. "_Excuse me_?" he scrambles and manages to up right himself after a great deal of difficulty-and some time spent on the floor.

"Oh yeah. Facebook, bro. Oh, I forgot you're not old enough to be on facebook, right?"

"Go home. You are not facebook friends with Artemis."

"Oh yeah, I am. We're like super duper tight. You know the point of playing a co-op game is that we both play. As in together. At the same time. _Together_. But you know whatever, you having a midlife girl crisis at the age of eight is way more important then us bonding."

"Shut up-this is more urgent."

"More like gent. We are playing this game. As in in the present. Right now."

"Don't try to make up words you suck at it. But seriously. Let me see your phone."

Wally smirked and zipped across the room, "What's the magic word, Dickie?"

Dick narrows his eyes at him. This was not okay. How could Wally know more about the girls than what he knows about them? "They didn't go."

Wally rolls his eyes and messes with his phone before reading aloud, "Valentine's Dance with the girls. XOXO I totally hope Dick is reading this and being jealous because he's a loser and should just play video games with Wally instead of obsessing over the fact that he tried to take three people to one dance and failed."

Eloquent.

"I-"

"Did you even think about the fact that the girls probably see each other in between classes, thus they probably told each other about your escapades."

Okay. Maybe he didn't think of that.

"I'm sure they didn't-"

"They're girls-screw that, they're _people_-they gossip. When Babs laid a big one on you, you came running to me and I was like a billion miles away. These girls are like two feet away. Seriously dude, use your brain."

Dick was about two seconds from either hitting Wally upside the head or hitting him the face. Okay, yes, the whole plan was stupid-Dick admits that. But it was stupidly charming and cute.

Doesn't mean he can't be bitter that it didn't work.

"Yeah, okay. Dude, I get it. You want me to play with you-"

"And stop looking like a pug. Seriously. Pouty only works on some people-it just makes you look like you're five."

_He does not look like he's five. _

Okay, maybe he does when he sticks his tongue out at Wally.

Unfortunately, Wally takes advantage and grabs his tongue before it can slip back in. "Al-hee!" Dick screeches and flings his arms out, digging his nails into whatever soft flesh he could get a grasp on. He should have seen this coming. Wally always likes to be an asshole like this-although he's never made a move quite like this.

He has stuck his hand in Dick's mouth as he yawns, though, which is quite similar and annoying.

"I eel ill ou!"

"You know, five years of training with the big bad Bat and you'd think you'd do something worse than just claw at me."

Wally laughs and tackles him starting an impromtu wrestling match where Wally pulls out all the dirty stops. Like pulling his shirt over his head. Or tripping him over the couch. Or placing the couch on top of him. Or hog tying him.

Or, you know, just being a genuine asshole.

It didn't make it any better when M'gann ran-floated? flew?-into the room and shouted, "Do you guys wanna see Artemis' dress? She looks so pretty!"

Yeah. _Real_ pretty.


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N - Bless you guys. Like honestly, you're the cutest. I just want to cuddle all of you. BTW, this is a two parter so watch out for the next one! **

Undercover

Artemis was happy.

Not like it was in the moment she was happy _oh joy to the world_ happy-no she had been consistently happy that entire week (minus Sunday but that really doesn't count because that had been Wally's fault). She was no longer failing geometry, her sister hadn't done anything too stupid, Dick stopped being cocky, they were going to state for gymnastics, and she was genuinely happy. She wasn't stressed or anything.

She was content with everything.

"Throw me a grape."

"Get up and get your own."

Still happy.

She glared up at Wally, which was quite hard considering her current position of upside down on the couch watching some survival show that was teaching her how to survive in the caves in Romania

Psh like she'll ever need that.

"I want a grape," she tried again.

"You'll choke on it."

"I will put my foot in your face."

"No you won't-Jesus Christ! Get that thing away from me."

She totally had to thank Dick for that list of things Wally is scared of. The list was topped with feet and she was so going to take advantage of that; compared to the other things on the list, it was the most accessible. That is unless the zoo will let her rent a walrus (note to future Artemis: ask Dick for money for walrus).

She snorted out a laugh as he pushed her foot out of his face and made her sit up right. The sudden vertigo caused her a bit of confusion—note: it is not fun having the world flipped at super human speed. As she steadied herself she turned to look at Wally and he looked back her like he had just won a medal or something glorious like that.

"Will you feed me a grape now?"

And he deflated just as fast. She smirked—her job was done here.

He reluctantly threw her a grape, and she plopped it in her mouth. "Loser."

"Artemis, report to the mission briefing room."

She nearly choked on her grape.

The booming voice over the intercom had shaken her a bit. It was usually _Team report to mission briefing room_ or _Aqualad report to mission briefing room_ or _Robin you're going to break that_. It was never Artemis.

Oh God what did she do?

Wally snorts, "See you later, loser."

Unfortunately, the cons weighed out the pros for punching him in the face. She got up off of the couch and walked towards the mission room before calling out to him, "West, don't you dare finish that episode without me!"

She could only hear him grumbling, but she knew that she was safe. He wouldn't watch the episode unless he wanted her to set Zatanna on his trail again-especially after last time (it may have involved a straight jacket and a whole lot of food).

When she entered the mission room, she paused because Batman and Robin and what do they want with her?

"You wanted me?" she called out when they didn't turn around from whatever they were looking at on the screens.

Robin turned slightly; his face slightly illuminated by the blue light, and motioned for her to come closer. She stood next to him and waited for Batman to say the word.

"I have a mission for you."

Nothing on the screen that they're currently looking at really gives her a clue to what type of mission it may be, but she has hopes-that are probably going to be crushed. They're still there, though, hiding, crying, probably going to get beaten up in the near future by Batman.

Maybe she'll be sent on a super cool trip to protect a CEO from Brazil.

"You are going to be undercover infiltrating the Miss Gotham pageant."

Or not.

Her entire being feels like it's hit a wall at 45 mph and currently has its head and multiple limbs way too far apart for comfort.

"You mean as a _contestant_?"

She really doesn't mean it as a question-more of like her trying to recover and stammering out her denial of the situation, but the look that Batman gives her. Well. It voices how much he suddenly regrets this decision in giving her a mission.

The screen lights up with current reports of multiple cases of pageant contestants all around the United States with landslide victories with one contestant and many of the other contestants dropping out through the competition. Batman believes it's a mixture of payouts and a betting ring surrounding it and supporting it.

Artemis is to enter in the competition and do well enough that either she gets beaten up or paid.

She's praying it's the latter.

She briefly wonders if Batman will let her keep the money.

"As the only member of the Team from Gotham, it's only logical that you take this role," Batman finishes and she knows she should probably say something and just respond, but she's still hung up on the fact that she's going to be in a beauty pageant. Again.

She also holds back the comment that Dick is also from Gotham, but well, he's probably reached his cross dressing quota for the year and she doesn't want to push it.

"Okay. Sure. I got this. Just give me a dress and I'll go."

Batman narrowed his eyes, "It will take you more than a dress to make you a threat."

_Ouch_. That actually _hurt_.

"We will supply you with any equipment you may need and Black Canary will provide all etiquette training you may need, but Robin has informed me that you are already trained in this area."

The glare she directed at Robin is only met with a meek smile. For a kid with a death-grip on his secret identity, he's really bad at keeping secrets. "_I am so getting you back later,_" she mouthed to him.

"_Promise_?"

"_Oh yeah_."

Even through Batman's stiff cowl, she can see the eyebrow rise in between them. "You have a week to prepare. Black Canary is in the garage waiting for you."

She didn't really wait for an official dismissal from Batman to go the garage, and sure enough Dinah is sitting on her bike like she's having the time of her life, which she probably was.

At that moment, Artemis realized that this entire thing was going to end up being a joke to everyone. The first time Artemis gets a solo mission and it's an undercover mission at a beauty pageant.

There's not a doubt in her mind that they're all going to watch her.

Dick going to record it.

Show it to everyone and all bits of her credibility will be gone. She didn't even want to think what Roy will say (or do), and all of the work she has put into making herself seem like a decently cool person in Gotham Academy will go to hell once all of them turn into 7 PM Eastern to see her in a fluffy pink gown.

It's a good thing she never liked dignity.

Artemis can see the crinkle in Dinah's eye when she walks into the room. Her mouth crooked up a bit, "You ready for training, Princess?"


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N - So i may have lied. I thought that after APs I would be able to write but then school screwed me over. Now i'm back. For good. PS. Does anyone know how pageants work like the rounds and stuff? If not i'll just watch the Miss America one this weekend. **

There is a reason for vigilantes preferring the night.

For one, it's hard to be sneaky and covert when there is a huge sun blaring down on them like a huge spotlight—plus a good part of their uniforms are reflective.

Two, most illegal things happen at night (or at least things they can stop).

Three, contrary to popular belief, they do have daily lives like school, or a baby, or work. Not everyone is Bruce Wayne and doesn't have to worry about making the rent every month.

So Artemis thinks that it's appropriate that she really does not like the huge stage lights, and hopes that her nightlife is the reason why she is the only one on the stage that is actually having trouble with the light. God, some of the girls are even looking into the light to "make their faces" glow or some weird crap like that that their coaches had told them.

Dinah just told her not to fall.

She can do that—perks of being in gymnastics.

The stage lights are so bright that she can't even see Dinah in the audience and can't see her to see if she might be trying to coach her. She should probably tilt up her chin just a bit but that would mean that she would get the light right in her eyes…

This light had to be messing up her gorgeous, half-Vietnamese complexion (could she tan from this light?)

"Number 16 would you like to show us the routine for the swimsuit portion?"

_No_.

She really doesn't want to.

Unfortunately, she could hear her inner Batman whispering to her, _A vital part of this mission is to stand out enough that people think you're competition and need to be eliminated_. _Do this any way possible_. And honest to God, her inner Batman voice was the one reason she actually might succeed in this mission (usually during missions she had her inner Green Arrow voice, but the only thing Ollie would say right now is commenting on how her hips aren't swaying enough when she walks).

(Yes, that is the only thing Ollie did to help her prepare for this mission-well he did try to pick out a dress for the evening gown event, but his severe lack of taste _(example: Speedy's costume)_ caused Dinah to throw it out the moment Ollie was out of sight. Dinah said that she would apologize when he figured out.)

(Ugh. It was a really bad dress. It somehow made her look like a prude and a whore.)

The coach stared at her, hip cocked and looked like she'd rather be enjoying happy hour right now then trying to explain the pageant's routine to a bunch of girls who really weren't listening. Artemis smiled-_oh god it feels so fake_-and took off. She really hates the way heels click every step; it's even worse now that she's in a huge auditorium. Each click gets amplified so that everyone can hear each and every step. And being an assassin baby that really bothers her because stealth is thrown out the door in heels.

(Okay, she takes back Ollie not helping her. In an attempt to help her, Ollie made her do patrol the last three days in heels to get her comfortable enough to walk on stage without tripping. She may have gone through five pairs, but it was worth her not tripping and dying in front of thousands of people.)

She made it to the end of the stage and posed.

_Cock your hip and pose. _

_ Switch. _

_ Cock your hip and pose. _

_ Smile. Turn. Give one last longing look over your shoulder. _

_ Work your hips. Your ass will be the last thing they see of you. Make it worth it. _

(Bless Dinah for making tapes of clear instructions of how to walk.)

She returned to her spot-ignoring all of the looks that the other contestants gave her-probably jealous they didn't get to show off and she did. Probably shocked that even though their daddies probably funded this thing that they aren't getting pampered and are stuck with the rejects.

Artemis is not a reject.

(But then again, her daddy most definitely did not fund this.)

(Unless she counts Bruce.)

_ (Bat Daddy_)

The girl next to her-a gorgeous girl who's curly hair intimidated Artemis in ways she did not know was possible-leaned down-did Artemis mention the girl was at least six foot?-to nudge Artemis, "It's called showing off your femininity, not being a streetwalker. Please learn the difference before someone tries to pick you up."

Artemis just knew she was gong to love these girls.

"Number 16, good job. You walk good. Yes. Such a leader. Ah. But you need to walk a bit further otherwise the judges won't see you as well, but overall good."

Artemis will take that.

The coach sipped her coffee and looked up from her clipboard. "You guys just do that for the swimsuit, evening, and theme and everything will be good. Talent is the only one where you'll deviate from that, but you guys know what you're doing. So break, 'kay? I need more coffee. Jesus Christ, I hope that place on 36th is still open," the lady muttered and walked off.

The entire group of girl's kinda just stood there. They didn't know if they were allowed to walk off of what they were supposed to do. It's not like they were told anything. Their coach is practically an alcoholic with an affliction for coffee that left them with little to none advice in a dessert.

Artemis is going to die.

Dinah did not prepare her for making decisions.

"Free time?" one of the girls piped up and everyone sort of had a mutual agreement and walked off the stage to whomever they dragged along to this mess. Now all Artemis had to do was trudge through the mess of girls (it sounds a lot easier than it actually is) and find wherever Dinah went.

Dinah happened to actually not be that hard to find (also apparently Dinah wasn't even in the crowd like she had originally thought; she had ditched that the moment Artemis turned around—and to think that Artemis nearly risked going blind to look for her). After nearly tripping over five girls-it was _their_ fault, they weren't looking at where she was going-she found Dinah casually sitting at her makeup station.

All of the contestants got their own station where they could prep they're makeup or hair. Most of the girls either got their hair done before hand and then all of the others even brought their own hairdressers to the event. Artemis brought Dinah. If Dinah can manage to keep her makeup perfect after a full night of crime fighting then she must be pretty good at it.

Only if she had known Vixen better she would have asked her.

Dinah was obviously not looking for her-compared to most of the other girls' guardians who were clamoring towards the group. No. Dinah was just sitting there on her phone texting whoever; she didn't even look up when Artemis stood next to her. Figures.

"Who are you-"

"Apparently Bruce is pissed about some girl-I don't know, that's all the gossip I can get from Clark."

Frankly, she forgot about how badly the Justice League gossips, but it's times like this that remind her that sometimes Ollie will stop during patrol to read a message from Dinah about "that girl" Roy's been "meeting up with" and then proceed to tell Artemis to "carry on" while he "makes sure Roy doesn't do something stupid" "again."

Artemis, so far, has managed to stay out of every sort of gossip-except for when she is the gossip, which is inventible.

"Bruce having lady troubles?"

Dinah bit the inside of her cheek, "You could call it that."

Okay. She doesn't want to know anymore. "Ah, um, well. Maybe you should be helping me considering I'm going to be going on stage in five hours and I really don't want to get eliminated first round."

"You'll be fine, Artemis. Just calm down and don't shake your arms as much when you walk."

"I shake my arms?"

"A lot. I thought it was just a weird quirk thing, but it's a real problem."

"Thanks. I'm glad you're telling me now instead of before when we were practicing."

"I can only tell you like a max of five things wrong with you before you get really testy. You get really defensive."

"I do not."

"Mhm. Listen, you'll do fine, Artemis. Bruce didn't just choose you because you're from Gotham, he chose you because he knew you could do this. And he's usually right."

Okay. Dinah had a point. Bruce could have very easily had M'gann disguise herself or even had Martian Manhunter—heh, Martian Manhunter doing a pageant—do something, but he chose her. She looked around the room, and she hated to admit it, but she felt like she kinda fit in.

People always get the wrong connotation about the pageant going crowd. There's a nice lot of them that do fit into the TLC show category with the crazy ass moms that force them to do this and have plastic surgery by age four, but the majority are just girls who want to win. For one, there's a whole lot of money involved in winning a pageant-Artemis would know, when she won them as a kid they paid the appartment payment for at least a month. Secondly, being able to say that you're Miss Gotham or Miss Wayne Enterprises or whatever is a blessing for later in life—college or otherwise.

Her mom didn't put her pageants when she was little just for the cute photos, after all.

Around the room there were girls practicing their walk one last time, fixing their makeup because they saw one little imperfection that only they see, combing back fly-aways, re-steaming their dress, and they're all doing these things without even blinking an eye and having someone else do it. Artemis didn't realize how tough of a crowd it is.

It's probably because whoever wins this goes to Miss New Jersey (and the Miss Gotham has won for the past six years straight there), Miss USA, and finally Miss Universe (or World-Artemis forgets which one is the teenage one). Instead of focusing their time on grades or sports these girls compete in pageants, and Artemis has the utmost respect for them. Sure it's a competition based on "beauty" but it's also personality, talent, and if you can be a role model.

Once a pageant girl, always a pageant girl.

"Just a reminder that the first round is evening wear and every contestant will need to be ready at least thirty minutes before hand to line up."

Dinah finally stood up from the stool, "'Kay, Artemis. Let's get you suited up."


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: I could give you a long list of why I haven't updated in 20 years but I figure you guys probably don't care. Bless you guys for actually putting up with me.**

Figures

This wasn't suppose to happen.

When Batman briefed her for the mission she had a couple of goals: figure out who (contestants, crew, judges) was connected to the betting ring, protect the other contestants from getting hurt (by drawing attention to herself), and get enough evidence of all of this.

So far she has failed every single one.

But hey, they're only to the talent so she still has time.

After the evening wear, two contestants dropped out for no reason (technically they did have a reason but it was obviously fake), a girl got "stage fright" and started barfing behind the stage, and another one sprained her ankle after tripping. Unfortunately, not all of them were even front-runners so there's no real trend for her to follow. There's ten contestants left and Artemis has no idea who is causing all of this.

She tried talking to girls but all of them seemed either freaked out or too in the zone to talk. Almost all of them have stopped eating and drinking and they don't talk to anyone they don't know. The security has been stepped up tenfold to the point where they kicked out Dinah and the other mothers/coaches.

The only good news so far is that she managed to score high on the talent section (finally her bow work came in handy on this mission).

Also good news, Bruce Wayne is a judge.

She probably should have seen this coming considering they always use local celebrities and, well, _Bruce Wayne_. He's consistently given her good scores and she just hope no one knows that she's friends with his son because otherwise she's going to receive a bunch of bad press after this.

(Although, he marked her down for her bow work and told her he would have liked her to do something more "contemporary." It might have been him having a joke with her or being an asshole.

She's gonna go with asshole.

Or that Dick put him up to it, which is also very likely.)

"Do you need help tying that up?" a girl asked (Natalie? Maybe? She thinks that's what the announcer said. She should probably be memorizing the girls' names considering they could be helpful, but Artemis has never been that good at names. Ask Bette or "Bethany").

Artemis smiled at her, very aware that this girl could in fact be the one undercover and could choke her right here and now—or she could just be trying to be helpful. She's not sure which is more suspicious "Sure. I couldn't get it so that it was tight and my boobs looked good."

Natalie's fingers were cold against the nape of her neck as she tied it into a simple but effective bow, "That's why I choose a top with an underwire, so it wouldn't kill my neck but I'd still look bigger than I am."

"It's a good thing half the panel is guys," and it's a competition half based on appearances.

"Please line up in order for the swimsuit catagory."

She sold her dignity to Batman and all he gave her in return was a bikini.

This was complete shit—this mission was going to hell and she was going to go out on stage for televised event for perverts to record her in a skimpy bathing suit and she is pretty sure she is going to attack someone.

Why the crap has someone not been obvious so she could just bust them and blow this joint and not do this and do anything but this?

Artemis was only a bit irritated.

Okay, if it was up to her she would rip off her bikini and strangle someone with it, so maybe this was not the best situation and she was not in the best mindset. But she had to get this figured out before someone gets seriously hurt.

The girl in front of Artemis (her name was Laura—no Maura?) continued to brush bronzer on her cheeks as she waited in line, and Artemis could see why; the girls face was severely lacking color and the bronzer was the only thing bringing it back to its natural tone—that is it was until one of the stagehands ripped it from her hands. "Later, sweetstuff, you look fine."

She turned to look at Artemis like she was about to demand her to get it back but stopped and cocked her head, "You're in my physics class."

Artemis gaped looking for something to reply with that didn't sound completely horrible but ended up only saying, "_Really_?" because honestly, she had no recollection of the bronzer obsessed girl. Then again, she didn't remember a lot of stuff from physics.

"Yeah, I sit in the back but I—"

"Hey, stop chatting and start walking, girls!" the stagehand manhandled L(M)aura onto stage before pushing Artemis up to go.

If she thought the lights were blinding before she doesn't even want to try and classify these lights. Someone must have turned the lights up as a way to make sure that the contestants could fully see the stage so there were no tripping mishaps like the last round—or they just wanted it bright enough that they could see the girls in all their swimsuit glory.

As Artemis made the turn of her walk, she could see how unsettled the judges were—they had no idea what was going on with the girls either. Bruce Wayne in particular looked like he wanted to just pause the entire show and figure out what the hell was happening—he wasn't alone. If only Artemis wasn't so busy with trying to stay in the competition then maybe she would have figured it out who was behind it by now.

Each chary girl stood in a pose waiting for everyone else to get out so they could do the dance routine. It couldn't be one of them (at least probably). She hasn't seen one girl go up to another without a bodyguard be there to monitor the activity.

The dance routine went on without a hitch surprisingly enough with the judges eliminating the girls this time (Artemis managed to get second overall for swimsuit. "Although her short statue, she manages to stay in peak physical condition," summarized what the judges said but her favorite comment was, "Man, I wish I was as ripped as her, if I was I would probably have a wife by now," by Bruce Wayne and he gave her a very ironic score of 9.6. The highest anyone had gotten that round. She was going to speak to Dick about this and if he didn't have anything to do with it she doesn't know if this is Bruce trying to have a joke with her and that he actually likes her or what.)

Unfortunately, that was the last round before the finale of having the finale four do a questionnaire—three in this circumstance because a girl immediately dropped the second she made it into the finale, giving no more a reason than "she didn't want to do it anymore."

It was her, Natalie, and L(M)aura left and she still had no idea what was going on and because Batman or even Robin had burst in yet implies that Bruce was also in the dark, which also implies that if fucking Batman can't figure out what the hell was going on that she was screwed and most likely going to end up dead soon and she hadn't even done her questionnaire yet. Great.

Speaking of _dead_, that was most definitely a gun against her back.

"You know, for a cop, they could have chosen a better one that can actually figure shit out."

In all her years of being a superhero and being an assassin, she has never been called out while undercover, so she froze. She didn't plan for this or if she did, she couldn't think of what that plan was. All she could think was that her dad was going to be so pissed.

She glanced over her shoulder; it was the unmistakable golden hair of Natalie. Figures, the one girl she actually kinda befriends turns out to be the bad one. The only other more stereotypical twist that she can think of is that it was that one person that she never saw until the end (so M(L)aura).

"Listen, I'll out you unless you make a deal with me. See, Kitty up there," it took Artemis to realize that she was talking about M(L)aura who was struggling through her second to final question. How did she even make it this far in the competition—she barely scraped by each round. "She's gonna get one final question, and if she answers wrong, she's out and you're the winner."

Artemis wished that she would give her a bit more of a fleshed out answer because at the moment she still had no idea what was going on besides the fact that she was probably going to die, Natalie _Traitor-Who-She-Should-Have-Expected-Because-Reall y-This-Was-A-Very-Poorly-Plotted-3-Parter-I'm-Sorr y_, that Batman really should come save her right now, and that all the ways to get out of this hold flew out of her head the instant she realized that she was doomed.

The final contestant on stage was managing to sweat through her make-up—which was no small task, Artemis is pretty sure it is going to at least take four showers before she returns to her natural skin tone and scrubs all of the mud off of her skin—so by her managing to sweat through it means that she obviously knew what was going on, or at least knew that she was screwed.

"So what do you think about Gotham City's problem with the crime families currently running rampant?"

Artemis is almost not sure that she heard the question right when it echoes backstage; they're supposed to get questions about how to improve the cities educatoins or world peace or some other docile shit—they were not supposed to be asked about crime families.

Something managed to click in her.

Her and L(M)aura weren't different. They were both rigged to make it to the end. Artemis as the cop and L(M)aura as the…

She nearly punched herself in the leg to set her emergency beacon—of fucking course they knew she was a cop! They knew who everyone was, not just Artemis, and they chose from that pot who would appeal to the judges the most or who would be the most fun to set up.

They set up the cop to win—Artemis was going to win—and it was going to look so bad for the cops and everyone. God, she should have seen this coming too.

Artemis doesn't really expect it when Bette shows up. Bette just flipped down from whatever rafter she was hiding in above and lands on Natalie like she was Batman from that one game that Batman has forbidden the team from playing (but they still play anyway because how much fun is it to make Batman beat up random people).

Bette threw her a sloppy smile from underneath her mask, "I would have gotten here earlier but we weren't exactly sure who was behind everything, but BG thinks she knows now. No time to explain, go out on stage and save the girl."

Now, when given instructions like that, Artemis surely should have known what to do. Unfortunately, Bette managed to give her a good enough push that she made it into the light and everyone could see her (and all thoughts of wait isn't Robin going to show up soon? were pushed away too). It took her a moment to regain her composure, but she managed to make it over to where M(L)aura was standing (you know what she thinks it's Laura).

Laura glanced out of the corner of her eye to see Artemis and then snapped her eyes back up to one of the higher up rows in the room. The notorious glint of a sniper winked back at her and Artemis suddenly realized why Laura was so terrified. She was about to be shot on national television. Artemis wasn't really sure if there was more behind it then _answer, bam, get shot_ or what, all she knew is she needed to get her out of here pronto.

Man, Artemis hopped that she was as good at thinking on her feet as she thought she was.

She stood next to Laura and glanced out into the audience; who knew who else was also in on this stupid conspiracy. She cleared her throat, but before she could speak the questionnaire buzzed on, "Good to see that you had no problem following the deviation of plans, Artemis, a true sign of a good leader. Wouldn't you say?" The cheer was nothing more than an echo as she ran down who was bad:

Natalie

The Host

That Sniper Guy in the Back

Probably a good amount of security

Her Dad probably messed something up too

"So, Artemis, in lieu of Maura's questions, how do you feel the GCPD does at protecting Gotham?"

Artemis really hoped that that was a hit against her being an undercover cop and not her being a cape.

She smiled like she was trained too, "They do their job just fine for what they're handed. Gotham isn't exactly the most pleasant place to protect and the people shouldn't really get too picky by who does the job or if it's not that good of a job—at least it's getting done. For example, the problem of these beauty pageants getting rigged is being solved by the GCPD right now, and with them, there won't be anymore accidents like the ones that happened tonight."

Maybe Artemis had been a bit too aggressive in her answer as it was obvious to the host that she knew what was going on and she was going to tear it down or maybe she had been just a bit too cheeky too when she delivered the answer (she could tell by looking at the judges and seeing how wary they suddenly were).

Thankfully, a smoke grenade hit at her feet and she grabbed Laura and ran. The shots of the sniper rang behind them—getting close but never actually hitting the mark.

Artemis would like to say that she continued to be a glorious hero the rest of the night and managed to save everyone and fight every bad guy but the second she managed to get Laura back stage she was hit in the back of the head, and well, that isn't very heroic.

When she wakes up, she isn't too surprised to see that she's back at the mountain in the med bay with a bandage around her head. She managed to avoid getting shot by a sniper but ended up getting taken down by a brick (or something of the sort).

_Heroic_.

Unfortunately, this was also a movie. If her life had been a movie she would have woken up with her friends and family around her ready to congratulate her on a job kinda decently done, but instead, it was her. Alone. Not even a cute guy sleeping in a chair next to her bed or anything. Figures. She debates on getting out of the bed, but decides that she would much rather just lay here than search the entire mountain for someone to swoon over her.

She figured that maybe tomorrow or something she could deal with it. Maybe have Batman explain what the fuck happened and tell her that it wasn't her fault that she didn't fix things until the last moment while giving her a nice cup of hot chocolate and telling her that she never had to go that awkwardly undercover again—that next time it's Dick's turn.


End file.
